Former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin feels that the franchise messed up by failing to sign Cameron Green at the IPL 2026 mini-auction. This comes after CSK were engaged in an intense bidding war with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the services of the all-rounder. However, they eventually weren't able to sign him as KKR snapped him up for INR 25.20 crore. This saw Green become the most expensive overseas buy in IPL history, breaking Mitchell Starc's record.
Ashwin believes that KKR could have gotten Green for a better price if they were more patient. He further said that CSK weren't fully committed on bringing the player in even though he would have been a great buy for them.
“We conducted a mock auction, and that’s when it became clear there was virtually no chance of him going over Rs 30 crores. In fact, had KKR been a little more patient—like some other franchises, Punjab for instance, who took their time while bidding - things might have played out differently,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“If that had happened, CSK would likely have let Cameron Green go much earlier. I had a sense that CSK were bidding more out of necessity than intent; it didn’t feel like they were fully committed to acquiring him. Personally, I felt Cameron Green would have been a terrific addition to CSK, and in that sense, they may have missed a small trick. That said, this isn’t about the price point. Cameron Green is a generational talent, and for KKR, he is an outstanding acquisition," he added.
KKR invest heavily on Green and Pathirana
Green proved to be the costliest player of the IPL 2026 auction and that too by a massive margin. The second-most expensive buy of the day was Matheesha Pathirana, who also went to KKR for an enormous fee of INR 18 crore. On the other hand, CSK invested heavily on young and inexperienced talents.
CSK rope in exciting youngsters
They brought in the uncapped Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma for INR 14.20 crore each. The two became the joint-most expensive uncapped players in IPL history, breaking Avesh Khan's record of INR 10 crore. Both CSK and KKR eventually went on to form a complete 25-member squad within the sum of money that they had for the auction.