Aakash Chopra wonders if CSK took advantage of loophole in acquiring Dewald Brevis after Ravichandran Ashwin’s statement

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has wondered if Chennai Super Kings took advantage of a loophole in roping in the services of Dewald Brevis during IPL 2025. CSK all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin recently revealed that the franchise was willing to pay an extra amount to Brevis to join them for the 18th season.

Brevis had gone unsold at the auction despite setting his base price at INR 75 lakhs, but later he was picked as an injury replacement for Gurjapneet Singh for INR 2.2 crore by Chennai Super Kings.

Brevis scored 225 runs in six matches for CSK at an average of 37.50 and a strike rate of 180 in IPL 2025 and thus, he was one of the positives for the team.

“The Chennai Super Kings’ season was going absolutely ordinary. The batters weren’t scoring runs, and people were getting injured. They needed mid-season replacements to either resurrect the season or prepare for the next season. In such a scenario, Dewald Brevis came and shone,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“He didn’t play the first match, but after that, he batted extremely well and took an incredible catch on the boundary. Ashwin has disclosed that he asked for more money. Is there any provision to give him more money than he should have gotten officially? In such a case, can the purse limit be broken? Is there a loophole there, which Ashwin has highlighted?” he added.

Further explaining the situation, the renowned commentator said CSK did nothing wrong in getting Brevis on board by exploiting a loophole in the injury replacement rule.

“You get your total salary on a pro-rata basis. It cannot be lower than your base price. In Dewald Brevis’ case, it couldn’t have been lower than ₹75 lakh, and couldn’t have been above ₹2.20 crore, the salary of Gurjapneet Singh,” the cricketer-turned-commentator said.

“Ashwin is saying that players ask for more money, and according to him, the Chennai Super Kings agreed as well. Since Ashwin has said it, I believe Brevis would have asked for more money. In case you have given more than ₹2.20 crore, as it’s a plan for next year, if there was a loophole, you have exploited it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Brevis smashed a 41-ball century against Australia in the second T20I at the Marrara Cricket Ground, Darwin on Tuesday.