When Chennai Super Kings clinched the last of their five Indian Premier League titles in May 2023, the driving forces of their successful campaign were all on the wrong side of 30. Among those who featured in the title clash against Gujarat Titans were Devon Conway (31 at the time), Ajinkya Rahane (34), Ambati Rayudu (37), Ravindra Jadeja (34) and Moeen Ali (35), playing under the able stewardship of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41).

Before the tournament, CSK were dismissed as ‘Dad’s Army,’ much like in 2021 when too, they cocked a snook at the critics and went all the way. Dad’s Army found a way to overcome every obstacle in its path in 2023; their victory in a truncated final that was played out on the reserve day came on the back of a six and a four by Jadeja off the last two balls of the tournament, a fitting finale to a title clash that had until then been played in the shadow of unseasonal precipitation in Ahmedabad.

Over the years, CSK have smashed every accepted tenet of 20-over cricket, once naively and erroneously installed as a ‘young player’s format.’ While the rest of the cricketing world invested heavily in young blood, the Chennai-based franchised drew from the traditional flavour of the city, relying heavily on experience and proven pedigree and distancing itself from the temptation of succumbing to the charms of the youth.

For all their stubbornness and steadfast adherence to the ‘experience first’ philosophy, CSK had the results to support their style. Defying clamour and sticking to their methodology had taken them all the way in 2021, as it did again two years later. In a world constantly in the quest for instant gratification and where the players were getting young and younger – remember, Vaibhav Suryavanshi went for ₹1.1 crore to Rajasthan Royals at the auctions before IPL 2025, when he was only 13 years of age – CSK placed implicit faith in its ‘Dad’s Army.’

It was in the natural order of things therefore that they would stick with that mantra going forward. But what had worked wonders for them until them unravelled spectacularly in 2025. Ageing legs, dimmed reflexes and tired bodies were no longer able to summon the adrenaline that could carry them for eight weeks while going toe-to-toe consistently with much younger and fresher minds and bodies. Dad’s Army was shown up for what it was. With their season all but done and only token pride to play for, the multiple-times winners made a strong break from the past, turning their attention to the one commodity they had obdurately chosen to overlook – youth.

And so in their last game of IPL 2025, long after the horse had bolted, CSK’s XI contained Ayush Mhatre, the 17-year-old opener, and Dewald Brevis, the effervescent 21-year-old from Johannesburg. This was right at the end of a season where they had blooded numerous other young resources, among the 19-year-old Shaik Rasheed and Urvil Patel, who made their debuts.

It indicated a tectonic shift in mindset and strategy, brought about by outcomes that needed immediate attention. From exciting and exuberant, CSK had devolved into ponderous and non-reactive. Their campaign was in shambles, a write-off from the halfway stage of the league phase, and while there remained the small matter of pride, the greater requirement was to focus on the future and to identify the personnel that the support staff were convinced would serve the franchise for years to come.

Young blood

Any suspicions that what happened in the second half of the last campaign was a mere knee-jerk reaction to recent events were emphatically laid to rest on Tuesday (December 16) at the mini-action in Abu Dhabi. CSK broke the proverbial bank to secure the services of a duo of young men with no more than a handful of senior representative appearances behind them. A week ago, it would have been unimaginable that Chennai, of all teams, would shell out ₹14.2 crore to procure the services of Prashant Veer, a 20-year-old from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh with only nine 20-over games under his belt.

Veer thus became the most expensive uncapped India player in the entire history of the tournament. Unassuming and unfussed, Veer etched his name in the record books. CSK needed a Ravindra Jadeja-like player at the auction after trading out the experienced left-handed all-rounder to Rajasthan Royals. Jadeja is practically irreplaceable even in the T20 format where his best days are clearly behind him, but CSK had to look long and hard, hoping to unearth a special talent for the future, if not necessarily for the immediate now.

Veer is an accomplished basher of the cricket ball who, in last season’s Uttar Pradesh T20 league, amassed 320 muscular runs and backed it up with eight wickets in 10 matches. In his fledgling senior representative career, 12 wickets at an economy of 6.45 has been complemented by a terrific strike-rate of 167.16. Not too long back, CSK would have looked at these numbers, maybe even have done a ‘double take’ but nothing more than that. After all, he didn’t fit their ‘minimum age requirement’ nor did he have a pedigreed record in state/franchise cricket. In so many ways, Veer is the very antithesis of the quintessential CSK acquiree.

Not unlike Kartik Sharma, the 19-year-old who isn’t an entirely unfamiliar face when it comes to the Chennai franchise. Last season, as an 18-year-old, he trialled with CSK and caught the eye of the management group though at that stage, there was no way to accommodate him in their larger squad. CSK bided their time, then went all out to pick up Kartik, just as they had done minutes previously with Veer.

CSK came into the auction in Abu Dhabi with a purse of ₹43.40 crore, the second most of all the franchises, behind Kolkata Knight Riders (₹64.30 crore), so they had plenty to play with. But even so, no one would have imagined them doling out ₹28.40 crore on just two players, both of them uncapped Indians with a combined age of 39. Veer and Kartik thus became the most expensive uncapped indian buys ever in IPL history. Kartik, like Veer, has just a few matches under his belt but CSK had had first-hand knowledge of what he brought to the table.

Wicketkeeper-batter Kartik is one for the long-term, given that Dhoni isn’t going to be around forever – like ever, ‘Is this his last season?’ debate has already started – and while CSK have brought Sanju Samson in from Rajasthan Royals after letting Jadeja and Sam Curran go in exchange, Kartik is the one they hope will be a bank going forward. In his brief run at the domestic level, the lad has smacked a devastating 28 sixes in 12 matches and is an acknowledged taker-down of quality spin, excellent virtues to possess if one is batting in the second half of the innings.

Prashant Veer
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Special Arrangement

Stephen Fleming, the head coach who has been exclusively with CSK since the start of the 2008 season except for the two seasons when the franchise was suspended from the IPL, conceded that his side had been forced to revisit its approach in light of the miserable start to its campaign last year, when most of the senior pros came a cropper. “As the game has evolved, we might have been a little bit slow to evolve with it,” the former New Zealand skipper said after the auction. “Only halfway through the (2025) tournament, we had a big shift and you saw with the players we got in as reserves, there was a shift in what we needed to do.

“Sometimes, you can hang on to theories and philosophies because of past success but we identified that we needed to shift and partly the work that we did last season halfway through has enabled us to continue that work done. My view used to be that experience was going to win, but now you have this fearless athlete that’s been brought up on T20 cricket and has a skillset that’s mouthwatering, and they just have no fear about what environment they need to exhibit these skills.”

The shedding of conservatism and embarking on a bold new tomorrow is a seismic shift in the make-up of CSK’s DNA, meaning that how they go in IPL 2026 will be followed with greater interest than normal. Dhoni is at one end of the age and experience spectrum; Veer and Kartik together are five years younger than him and it is clear from what they have said in the last few days that he is more than just a hero to them. They couldn’t have hoped for a better mentor, a more level-headed and qualified life coach than the Jharkhandi who is more than just a player to the denizens of Chennai, and under whom the franchise has gone from strength to strength.

Chennai historically have shown great resilience in bouncing back from the disappointment of one season to make a bold statement in the next, as they showed in 2021 and 2023. Now, having brought up the foot of the table for the first time in their proud and glorious history, they will target immediate payback. Armed with a whole new mentality and with resources that they wouldn’t have touched with a bargepole even a couple of years back, who is to say that they won’t rewrite the record books and become the first side in the history of the tournament to be crowned six-time champions?