In a season dominated by flops, South African cricketer Dewald Brevis emerged as a welcome addition for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) late in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. Brevis was brought in as an injury replacement for Gurjapneet Singh, who was originally signed for ₹2.2 crore. Though he joined the squad late, Brevis quickly impressed everyone by scoring 225 runs in just 6 matches at a strike rate of around 180.
Now, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has claimed that CSK may have paid ‘extra’ to secure Brevis, beating out interest from several other franchises. Speaking in a recent YouTube discussion, Ashwin said that the franchise went beyond the base price to ensure Brevis signed with them. Notably, Brevis’ base price was ₹75 lakh.
Shortly after Ashwin’s comments, CSK issued an official statement in response:
“Chennai Super Kings categorically clarifies that all actions taken by the franchise during the signing process of Dewald Brevis as a Replacement Player during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 were in complete compliance with the rules and regulations of the IPL.”
According to IPL regulations, the fee paid for a replacement player cannot exceed the amount paid for the injured player being replaced. Since Gurjapneet Singh was signed for ₹2.2 crore, any payment beyond that amount to Brevis would violate league rules and could potentially land the franchise in trouble.
Ashwin elaborated on how these replacement negotiations typically unfold:
“Let me tell you something about Brevis. He had a great stint with CSK in the last IPL. In fact, a few teams were talking to him. Some backed out because of the price. When you’re signing a player as a replacement, you’re supposed to sign him at the base price. But agents get involved, and the player might say, ‘If you give me X amount extra, I’ll join.’”
“That happens because the player knows that if he’s released next season, he might go for big money. So his thought process was — ‘Pay me well now, or I’ll get more next year.’ CSK agreed to the terms, and that’s how he joined. In the second half of the season, CSK’s combination was strong. They’ll now head into the IPL 2026 mini-auction with ₹30 crore in their purse,” Ashwin added.
