"We've been watching...": Stephen Fleming on buying Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer at IPL 2026 auction

Abu Dhabi [UAE], December 16 (ANI): After acquiring Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer for a record-breaking price at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) coach Stephen Fleming said they have been watching Kartik for some time and needed all-rounder like Prashant after Ravindra Jadeja's trade to the Rajasthan Royals.
Uncapped Indian wicketkeeper-batter Kartik Sharma was sold to five-time champions CSK for a whopping price of Rs 14.2 crore during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction on Tuesday.
Sharma became the joint-most expensive uncapped Indian player in IPL history, alongside Prashant Veer, who was also sold to the CSK for the same price.
Prashant Veer, who is an all-rounder from UP, also got attention with a massive bidding war between Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, CSK, RR and SRH. It was the five-time champions CSK that persisted until the last and secured him for Rs 14.20 crores.
"Fair reflection, as the game evolved, we may have been slow to evolve with it. Halfway through tournament we made a big shift. Saw players we got in as reserves, with them there was a big shift in what we needed to do. We identified we needed to shift. Work we did halfway through has enabled us to continue that work now," Fleming said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"We've been watching Kartik for some time. He was with that last year. We needed that skillset of Prashant after the Jadeja trade," Fleming added.
Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 25.20 crores, became the third-most expensive player in the league's history and the most expensive overseas player in the competition's history.
Rajasthan Royals and KKR entered an intense bidding war, with the Royals opting out at around Rs 13 crores, and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which entered the bidding, pushing the price well above Rs 20 crores. CSK bid Rs 25 crores, and KKR followed it with a 25.20 crores bid and won the war.
Green has scored 521 runs in 21 T20Is matches at an average of 32.56, SR of 160.30, with six fifties and has 12 wickets averaging 23.35. He has scored 1,334 runs in 63 T20S at an average of 33.35, with a SR of 151.07, including a century and seven fifties, and has taken 28 wickets at an average above 34.
The young Aussie all-rounder featured in the 2023 and 2024 IPL seasons with the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), scoring 707 runs in 29 matches at an average of 41.58, with an SR of 153-plus, a century and two fifties and took 16 wickets at an average of above 41.5. But he did not participate in last season's auction due to injury.
Though the winning bid for Cameron Green was for Rs 25.2 crore, Green can only earn Rs 18 crore in the IPL 2026 season. (ANI)