Former India opener Krish Srikkhan delivered a scathing critique of Australian pacer Nathan Ellis, challenging the notion that the Chennai Super Kings retained player could sustain success in the Indian Premier League given his limited IPL background and apparent difficulty adapting to the competition’s intensity.
Ellis failed to feature in IPL 2026 after aggravating a hamstring injury sustained during Mumbai’s domestic One‑Day Cup final on March 11. Although CSK committed INR 2 crore for the Australian ahead of the 2026 auction, the bowler made only a single match appearance throughout his 2025 tenure with the team.
“He’s not a great bowler. All he does is run in fast and bowl slowly. He has no track record in the IPL. Luckily for CSK, he got injured last season. He would have been smashed to all corners,” Srikkhatsaid on his YouTube channel.
Ellis’s IPL record and CSK retention
Across his IPL career Ellis has logged 17 matches, primarily from his stint with Punjab Kings between 2021 and 2024—16 of those innings came during that period. Those games produced 19 wickets in 17 attempts, yielding an average of 28.74 and an economy of 8.67 per over. Nevertheless, Srikkhant emphasizes that such figures fall short of earning confidence in his reliability under pressure.
Srikkhat’s broader critique of English fast bowlers
Srikkhat expanded his criticism beyond Ellis to encompass English speed‑pace options, asserting that international paces are ill‑suited for Indian platforms. He singled out Josh Tongue as a player he would not select for CSK, highlighting the prevalence of quality domestic talent in Hindi cricket.
“He will get smashed on Indian conditions. His express pace will only travel faster to the boundary in India. I won’t pick Josh Tongue for sure if I were CSK. There are 10,000 other better options and so many other youngsters available. England bowlers should not be picked at all. They are fit to bowl only on English pitches,” Srikkhaht said.
Srikkthan stressed the value of emerging players. Citing veteran bowler Jamie Overton, who gained recognition through several IPL seasons before stabilising, he noted that India boasts ample pace talent and does not require aggressive recruitment of overseas fast bowlers whose early tours prove unremarkable.
“Even Overton did well only after playing a couple of seasons of IPL. He was smashed in the first two seasons. There is enough talent in India itself. But they’ve not rushed and selected some of these overseas guys,” Srikkhant concluded.