Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin's return to his home franchise, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has not gone too well with some of his fans. The off-spinner who had hoped for a happy reunion at CSK has received turbulence more than glory. Not only on the field but also off the field, the 38-year-old has faced some issues on his YouTube channel. After a sedate start for CSK in the IPL 2025 season and amid growing criticism online, Ashwin has opted out to cover CSK's matches on his YouTube channel.
This move comes after the CSK off-spinner's YouTube channel garnered some negative publicity after the comments made by one of his guests on the channel - former Proteas and RCB analyst Prasanna Agoram - questioning CSK's bowling strategy in the ongoing IPL 2025 season.
Agoram, in the post-match discussion, came with a shocking statement that Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad, (Currently the purple-cap holder) does not merit a place in CSK's playing XI given the presence of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Agoram also criticized the use of Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana's usage in only death overs, saying the tactics came back to haunt CSK against RR when Nitish Rana blazed to a half-century and took the attack to CSK bowlers, including Ashwin.
Fans attack Ravichandran Ashwin over Prasanna Agoram's remarks on his YouTube channel
While Ravi Ashwin did not give any views, and it was Agoram's perception, the audience targeted the former and his platform, which has a staggering over 1.6 million subscribers. The fiery episode came to an end with the removal of the controversial video and a formal statement from the admin of the CSK star's YouTube channel.
“Given the nature of the discussions on this forum over the last week, we want to be mindful of how things can be interpreted and have chosen to step away from covering CSK games, both previews, and reviews, for the rest of this season,” read the statement
Ashwin has failed to make an impact for CSK as he would have hoped for. The off-spinner has been an easy target for batters as he has gone above nine runs per over, and his average stands at an unimpressive 40.
