Bizarre CSK tactic: Bought an all-rounder for ₹14.20 crore but he never bowls; ₹50 lakhs down the drain each match

Two matches into his CSK career, that logic already looks badly compromised. Veer has played against the Punjab Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but CSK have not given him a single over in either game. For a player bought on dual-skill promise, that is not just underuse. It is a case of a franchise paying premium money for a two-discipline cricketer and then deploying only one half of the package.

Yet CSK’s actions suggest they do not trust him enough to use that second skill at all. Against the Punjab Kings, he made his debut and did not bowl, even though CSK were defending a total. Against RCB, he retained his place despite not bowling in the previous match, and then again remained unused with the ball while CSK were hammered for 250 for 3.

That is where the decision stops looking patient and starts looking contradictory. If he is good enough to be in the XI, why is he not good enough to bowl even one over? And if he is not trusted to bowl, why was so much money committed to a profile built around all-round value?

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That means over the two matches he has played, CSK have effectively parked around ₹1.014 crore worth of projected bowling value on the bench while still carrying him in the XI.

And that is actually a conservative estimate. In T20 cricket, the bowling side of an all-rounder often holds disproportionate strategic value because it creates flexibility elsewhere. A captain with an extra spin option can alter match-ups, protect a struggling frontline bowler, stretch resources at the death, or attack a specific phase more boldly. When that option is never used, the side is not merely wasting money; it is also wasting time. It is wasting a structural advantage it has already paid for.

It also creates an avoidable selection problem. If a team is unwilling to bowl a spin-bowling all-rounder, then that player is no longer solving balance issues. He is instead taking up a spot while the captain searches for overs elsewhere. That weakens the squad architecture rather than strengthening it.

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