Credit: IPL
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) registered their worst season in their 18 years of the Indian Premier League (IPL) journey. In IPL 2025, they recorded four wins and 10 losses in 14 outings and concluded the tournament as the worst-performing side in the competition. During the T20 extravaganza, they got magnificent young performers such as Ayush Mhatre, Noor Ahmad and Dewald Brevis, who proved their potential. In the next season, CSK will keep their expectations high from these names.
However, before going into the next year’s tournament, the Yellow Army will have to do several reforms to be effective. The five-time champions will endeavour to part ways with non-performing players who didn’t do their jobs efficiently, this year. These players’ poor outings humiliated Chennai and the Men in Yellow won’t want to replicate this year’s failure next season. Noting Super Kings’ underwhelming IPL 2025 campaign, SportsTiger has come up with five names Chennai might release ahead of the 2026 installment.
5. Vijay Shankar
Vijay Shankar returned to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad after 10 years. The 34-year-old was expected to bolster the side’s middle-order but he failed miserably in his role. Appearing in five innings of six matches, he scored only 118 runs at a strike rate of 129.67.
4. Rahul Tripathi
In CSK colours, Rahul Tripathi looked horrendous as a top-order batter. In the initial three matches, he was tasked to play as an opener but witnessing his terrible numbers, he was demoted to number three against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). His nine-run innings against Lucknow was the last straw as CSK dropped him from the playing XI for the remainder of the tournament.
3. Sam Curran
England all-rounder Sam Curran became a part of CSK for INR 2.40 Crore in the IPL 2025 auction. Representing CSK after four years, he couldn’t deliver anything solid in all departments of the game. As a batter, he accumulated only 114 runs while donning the role of bowler, he took only one wicket.
2. Ravichandran Ashwin
Former India player Ravichandran Ashwin’s job was to reinforce CSK’s spin attack with experienced Ravindra Jadeja and youngster Noor. In the last auction, Chennai splurged a heavy amount of INR 9.75 Crore to reserve the services of the star player. However, the 38-year-old failed to justify his price and grabbed only seven wickets in nine contests at an expensive economy of 9.12.
1. Devon Conway
New Zealand opener Devon Conway was bought for INR 6.25 Crore by CSK in the auction, held in November 2025. Expectations were high from him in the tournament but he put up a disappointing show with his bat. The southpaw looked completely out of rhythm as he hoarded only 156 runs in six matches.IPL 2026
