Ravichandran Ashwin is finally making a homecoming after Chennai Super Kings signed him for  ₹9.75 crores during the IPL 2025 mega auction at Jeddah on Sunday. With Rajasthan Royals focusing on youth by retaining Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel, Ashwin did not make the cut to be retained by RR. Ashwin’s bidding began at ₹2 Crore base price as his old franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) began the bidding process

Earlier during mock auction, Ashwin had sold himself to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a big sum of ₹8.5 crore. The veteran cricketer began his IPL career at Chennai Super Kings (CSK), whom he represented from 2008 to 2015. The 38-year-old spin wizard, played for five IPL teams since his debut season, and his most recent franchise is Rajasthan Royals (RR), whom he has been playing for since 2022.

R Ashwin's IPL journey

After CSK were banned for two years following corruption charges, Ashwin played IPL 2016 for Rising Pune Supergiant and missed 2017 because of injury, before moving to Kings XI Punjab (KXIP, now Punjab Kings).

Ashwin was captain of KXIP from 2018, and in 2019 his mankading (run-out of the non-striker backing-up) of RR batter Jos Buttler became a subject of heated debate. Ahead of IPL 2020, Ashwin was traded to Delhi Capitals, where he spent two seasons before moving to RR in 2022.

At Royals, he was used up the order as a pinch-hitter and became the first batter to retire out tactically in an IPL game. With 171 wickets before the start of IPL 2024, Ashwin is among the top-five wicket-takers in IPL history.