Ravi Ashwin gives clarification on Dewald Brevis, CSK situation, says 'my intention was to...'

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has cleared the air surrounding his controversial comment on Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) pursuit of South African batter Dewald Brevis. The South African batter, who was signed mid-season by CSK during the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season, became a point of controversy in the last two days as Ashwin’s remarks suggested that the franchise paid extra money for Brewis. However, CSK issued a statement on Saturday (Aug 16) on the situation before Ashwin clarified.

Ashwin clears air

“The IPL or those who need to give approval give the approval, and the player comes and plays. If there was any fault here, that player would not have played in the franchise. This is not about Brevis; it is generally the case. There is one other thing I want to explain. My intention in the video was to describe how well Brevis was batting. We have to understand that every player who plays in the IPL has a tri-parted contract: The player, franchise, and the IPL have a binding contract,” Ashwin said while speaking to his YouTube channel.

Ashwin’s earlier comments had left many shocked as he raised the point of extra money. This indicated CSK might have paid an extra sum, more than Brevis’s actual base price, to land him at the franchise while other teams were also showing interest.

What was the comment?

"Dewald Brevis had a great time in the IPL last year after CSK got him in the back half of the season," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. "I even heard that two-three teams were also talking to him, but they had to let him go after not being able to pay extra money. He had a base price in the auction, but discussions and negotiations would have happened with his agent, that 'I'll join the team only for a certain sum of money.”

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To ease the situation, CSK released an official statement, “A replacement Player signed pursuant to either paragraph 6.1 or 6.2 can be recruited at a League Fee which shall not be more than the League Fee that would have been payable to the injured/unavailable Player for the relevant Season.

“If a Replacement Player is recruited during a Season, the League Fee actually paid to him will be reduced to take account of the Franchisee’s matches during the relevant Season which took place before he was registered and any other relevant deductions under the Player Contract,” the statement concluded.