After finishing at the bottom of the table last time around, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have ramped up their preparations for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) by roping in former Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Kumar Kartikeya as net bowler. Kartikeya had unfortunately gone unsold at the auction back in December after the Royals decided not to retain him.
Nevertheless, the experienced spinner will now add his value in the CSK nets to help the batters acclimatise to the spinning conditions of their home ground in Chepauk and the subcontinent in general.
Previously, the Yellow Army have also added sensational Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler Adil Ayub Tunda as a net bowler for IPL 2026.
Speaking about his IPL numbers, the left-arm spinner featured in only four games for Rajasthan last season and managed to take two wickets. Prior to that, the 28-year-old has plied his trade with the Mumbai Indians (MI) from 2022-2024. While he featured for MI in the first two years, he did not get any gametime in 2024 and was subsequently released. Overall in IPL, Kumar Kartikeya has played 16 matches and picked up 12 wickets.
Although not a part of any squad in IPL 2026, Kumar Kartikeya can still find himself in contention for a spot in CSK or any other team in case of injury as a replacement option if he manages to impress the scouts and selectors.
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With the departure of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja from the side, there was a big vacancy in the CSK spin attack. While Ashwin retired from IPL, Jadeja was traded to the Rajasthan Royals along with Sam Curran to bring in India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson.
The five-time champions, however, managed to fill the void by making some interesting additions in the IPL 2026 auction. They bought uncapped Prashant Veer for a record amount of INR 14.2 crores (joint most expensive uncapped player with Kartik Sharma) as a like-for-like replacement for Ravindra Jadeja. Furthermore, CSK also roped in another left-arm spinner in West Indies cricketer Akeal Hossein.
Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad is another key name in the department alongside all-rounders Shreyas Gopal and Matthew Short.
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