“My intention in the video was to…” - Ravi Ashwin breaks silence after facing backlash over Dewald Brevis statement

Former Indian spinner and analyst Ravi Ashwin has responded after the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise was forced to issue a clarification on the replacement signing of Dewald Brevis in the IPL 2025 season.

For the unversed, earlier last week, Ravi Ashwin had stated that Brevis was roped in by the CSK think tank team after paying an extra amount than his base price, which turned out to be a controversial statement, going viral on the internet.

“I will tell you something. About Brevis. He had a great time last IPL with CSK. In fact, a few teams were talking to him. A few teams left him because of the price. When he was supposed to be signed as a replacement, he was supposed to be signed at the base price. But what happens is you talk to the agents and the player will say, if you give me X amount extra, I will come,” Ashwin had said earlier last week on his YouTube channel.

However, CSK was quick to come up with an official statement, clarifying that they followed all the Replacement Player rules and regulations laid out by the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council.

“Chennai Super Kings categorically clarifies that all actions taken by the franchise during the signing process of Dewald Brevis as a Replacement Player during TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 were in complete compliance with the rules and regulations of IPL,” the franchise statement read.

Furthermore, Ashwin was also quick to respond after looking at the official statement released by the CSK franchise. The star spinner stated that the clarification on the matter has arisen from the fact that a lot of people have doubts, not delving much into the details.

“We live in such times where we have to clarify even true stories. In that way, it is a bit tricky. But I won’t go there. There is no one at fault here. The clarification here on this matter has arisen from the fact that a lot of people have doubts. The point is the player is not at fault, the franchise is not at fault, and maybe the governing body is also not at fault. All of us need to understand that if a franchise needs a player, the franchise talks to the player or the player’s agent and tells the BCCI, ‘Look, so-and-so player of ours is injured, we need another player. ’ The matter gets closed there,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

He further clarified his actual intention behind his statement on the signing of Dewald Brevis mid way through the IPL 2025 season. He also cited an example of Chris Gayle, who came in as a replacement player for the RCB franchise in the initial days of the IPL.

“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,” he added.

“So if something is wrong with it, it won’t get ratified. That is why, probably, the tweet that said clause so-and-so makes complete sense. The flexibility that is there with the IPL’s injury replacement, everyone is making use of it. It is not only CSK who have picked a replacement; there have been several other teams. RCB have taken Chris Gayle in the past, and he became a superstar. Injury replacements are a common facet of the IPL, and even in that, the rule flexibility that you have, how you make use of that, within the limit, you can use it. That is the point,” Ashwin concluded.

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