Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings

Nickname(s)	CSK
League	Indian Premier League
Personnel
Captain	Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Coach	Stephen Fleming
Owner	The India Cements Ltd
Team information
City	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Colours
Founded	2008 (2008)
Home ground	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Capacity	50,000
Secondary home ground(s)	JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Secondary ground capacity	50,000
History
Indian Premier League wins	3 (2010, 2011, 2018)
CLT20 wins	2 (2010, 2014)
Official website	chennaisuperkings.com
T20 kit
Chennai Super Kings in 2021

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are a franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. They play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd and India Cements is the major stakeholder. The team served a two-year suspension from the IPL starting July 2015 due to the involvement of their owners in the 2013 IPL betting case, and won the title in its comeback season of 2018. The team is captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Stephen Fleming.

The Super Kings have won the IPL title thrice (in 2010, 2011 and 2018), and have the highest win percentage of matches among all teams in the IPL (59.83%). They hold the records of most appearances in the playoffs (ten) and the Final (eight) of the IPL. In addition, they have also won the Champions League Twenty20 in 2010 and 2014. The brand value of the Super Kings in 2019 is estimated to be around ₹732 crore (roughly $104 million), making them one of the most valuable IPL franchise.

Franchise history

In September 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the establishment of the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition to be started in 2008. In January 2008, the BCCI unveiled the owners of eight city-based franchises. The Chennai franchise was sold to the India Cements for $91 million, making it the fourth most expensive team in the league behind Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. India Cements acquired the rights to the franchise for 10 years. Former ICC Chairman N. Srinivasan was the de facto owner of the Chennai Super Kings, by means of his position as the vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements Ltd. The franchisee was transferred to a separate entity named Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd., after the Supreme Court of India struck down the controversial amendment to the BCCI constitution's clause 6.2.4 that allowed board officials to have a commercial interest in the IPL and the Champions League Twenty20 on 22 January 2015.

Team history

2008–2009: First seasons

Main articles: Chennai Super Kings in 2008 and 2009

Chennai Super Kings playing the Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in the 2008 Indian Premier League.

During the first player auctions for the inaugural IPL season conducted in January 2008, the Chennai franchise bought a number of contemporary star cricketers such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Matthew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Muttiah Muralitharan and Michael Hussey. Dhoni became the costliest player of the auction, as the Chennai franchise bought him for $1.5 million. The franchise named Dhoni as the captain of the team and appointed Kepler Wessels as the head coach. They played their first game on 19 April 2008 against Kings XI Punjab at Mohali. The Super Kings won the game by 33 runs after posting 240/5 in 20 overs, which was the highest total of the tournament, a record surpassed by themselves in 2010. The Super Kings ended the league stage with eight wins from 14 games and finished third on the points table. They beat the Kings XI Punjab by 9 wickets in the semifinal. The Super Kings faced the Rajasthan Royals in the final of the IPL at Mumbai. Batting first, the Super Kings scored 163/5 in 20 overs and lost the game by 3 wickets off the final delivery of the match. They also earned a spot in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 along with Rajasthan, but the tournament was canceled due to the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the Super Kings, along with Rajasthan, received $5 million each as compensation. Fleming, who had decided to retire from all forms of the game after the first season of the IPL, took over as the coach of the Super Kings team from Wessels for the next season which was to be held in South Africa.

For the 2009 season, the Super Kings bought English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for $1.55 million at the auction making him the highest-paid IPL cricketer along with English teammate Kevin Pietersen who was bought for the same amount by Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, Flintoff played only 3 matches for them before suffering a knee injury that ruled him out of the season. The Super Kings were also without the services of Hussey who had decided to skip the IPL season to focus on The Ashes. The Super Kings finished with 17 points from 14 matches and earned a second place at the league table. However, at the semi-finals, their hopes of entering the final for a second time were crushed by the Royal Challengers who beat them by 6 wickets. The Super Kings opener Matthew Hayden, who scored 572 runs in 12 innings with 5 half-centuries at an average of 52 and strike-rate of 145, won the Orange Cap for the leading run-scorer of the season and was also adjudged Player of the Tournament.

2010: The IPL and CLT20 double

Main article: Chennai Super Kings in 2010

In 2010, the Super Kings struggled in the first half of the regular season, winning only two matches out of seven. They won four of their next five games in the season mainly due to the efforts of Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina. After a defeat at home to the Delhi Daredevils, the Super Kings were left with a must-win match against Kings XI Punjab at Dharamshala. The Super Kings won the match by six wickets as they chased down the target of 193 with two balls to spare with skipper Dhoni scoring an unbeaten 54 from 29 balls. Thus, with seven wins from 14 matches, Chennai finished with the same number of points as three other teams with two semi-final spots at stake. Chennai got the third place as they had the better net run rate of the four teams which finished on 14 points. In the semifinal, the Super Kings scored a modest 142/7 in 20 overs against the defending champions Deccan Chargers. But an inspired bowling spell from Doug Bollinger (4/13 in four overs) did the most damage as the Chargers were bowled out for 104. This gave the Super Kings a 38-run victory that took them to the final. The Super Kings faced the tournament favourites Mumbai Indians at their home ground in the final. Suresh Raina's 57 (35) helped the Super Kings recover from 68/3 after 12 overs to put up 168/5 at the end of their 20 overs. Then, their spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Muralitharan conceded only 41 runs in the 8 overs bowled between them to help the Super Kings won the game by 22 runs and secure their first ever IPL title. With this, the Super Kings also qualified for the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 that was held in South Africa.

At the Champions League, the Super Kings were placed in Group A along with champions of Twenty20 competitions from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The Super Kings topped the Group table with three wins and a Super Over defeat to the Victorian Bushrangers. In the semi-final at Durban, the Super Kings comprehensively defeated IPL rivals Royal Challengers Bangalore by 52 runs. Raina won the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 94 off 48 balls. The Super Kings played their first CLT20 final at Johannesburg where they beat the Chevrolet Warriors by 8 wickets, becoming the first IPL team to win the CLT20. Murali Vijay won not only the Man of the Match in the final for his 58 but also the Golden Bat for scoring the most runs in the tournament and Ashwin, who was the leading wicket-taker, was adjudged the Player of the Series. At the end of the season, Matthew Hayden decided to retire from the IPL.

2011–2015: Success and suspension

Main articles: Chennai Super Kings in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015

Suresh Raina is the leading run-scorer for the Super Kings

In 2011, as two new teams were added to the IPL, the IPL Governing Council declared that each franchise could retain a maximum of four players of their squad, only three of whom can be Indian players, and the rest of the international players would be put in the mega-auction. The Chennai franchise, keen to have the same set of core players, retained captain MS Dhoni, vice-captain Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and all-rounder Albie Morkel for a total of $4.5 million. The retention left them with the power of spending only $4.5 million at the mega-auction. At the auction, they bought back some of their star players of previous seasons such as Hussey, Ashwin, Bollinger and Subramaniam Badrinath. In the 2011 IPL, they lost three of their first five games which placed them at the bottom of the ten-team points table. But then, they went on to win seven of their next eight games to finish second and register a spot in the knockout stages. They faced the top-ranked team Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Qualifying final which they won by 6 wickets thanks to an unbeaten 73 from Suresh Raina. In the final, they faced the same opponents again, which was held at their home ground Chepauk. Vijay and Hussey put on a 133-run first-wicket partnership that helped the Super Kings to post a total of 205/5. Their bowlers, then, restricted Bangalore to only 147 to take the Super Kings to the second consecutive title in the IPL. Vijay was awarded Man of the Match for his match-winning innings of 95. CSK also won all their home games that season becoming the first team in IPL to achieve the feat. However at the Champions League later that year, they won only one out of their four group matches and finished at the bottom.

In 2012, the franchise signed up Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for $2 million at the players' auction. They got off to a rather slow start in the regular season, winning only five of their first 12 games which put them in doubt of qualifying for the Playoffs. Then they won three of their last four matches and qualified for the Playoffs with a better net run rate than the Royal Challengers who also finished with the same number of points. In the Eliminator, they beat the Mumbai Indians by 38 runs before comprehensively beating the table-toppers Delhi Daredevils in the Qualifying final by 86 runs. Murali Vijay, who struck his second IPL hundred (113 off 58 balls), won the Man of the Match. At the final, the Super Kings were defeated by 5 wickets by the Kolkata Knight Riders who chased down the target of 191 with two balls to spare, thus denying the Super Kings a hat-trick of titles in the IPL. At the Champions League, once again they could not progress past the group stage with two wins and two defeats.

In 2013, the Super Kings strengthened their bowling attack by signing up five overseas and five Indian bowlers. In the IPL season, they finished first in the points table with 11 wins from 16 matches and qualified for the Playoffs and 2013 CLT20. This was the first time in six seasons that the Super Kings had topped the league table of the IPL. During the season, they also equaled Royal Challengers Bangalore's 2011 record for most wins in succession in the IPL (7 wins on trot). In the first Qualifier at Delhi against Mumbai Indians, the Super Kings posted 192/1 in 20 overs riding on unbeaten half-centuries from Hussey (86* off 58 balls) and Raina (82* off 42 balls) before bowling out their opponents for 144. Thus they entered the final of the IPL for the fourth time in succession where they would play the same opponents, Mumbai Indians, at Kolkata. At the final, batting first, the Mumbai Indians made 148/9 in their 20 overs. In reply, the Super Kings were reduced to 39/6 at one stage before an unbeaten half-century from skipper Dhoni took them close to the target. However, Mumbai Indians won the match by 23 runs to win their first ever IPL title. Super Kings opening batsman Michael Hussey, who scored 733 runs that season at an average of 52, won the Orange Cap for the most runs in the season while all-rounder Dwayne Bravo won the Purple Cap for bagging the most wickets (32). The Super Kings gained direct qualification for the 2013 CLT20 which was held in India in September–October. They were placed in Group B alongside Brisbane Heat, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Titans and Trinidad & Tobago. They won their first three games before losing the final group match against Trinidad & Tobago. With 12 points from four matches, the Super Kings progressed to the semifinals where they suffered a 14-run defeat at the hands of the Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur.

In 2014, before the players' mega-auction, Chennai retained Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Ashwin and Bravo. The retention left them with a purse of ₹21 crores to spend at the auction. At the auction, the franchise bought the likes of Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma among others. The first phase of the IPL season, as it coincided with the general elections, was held in UAE. The second phase returned to India, but the Super Kings' home matches were shifted from Chennai, due to "a deadlock between stadium authorities and the state administration", to JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi. The Super Kings started the season with a defeat in the opening match, after which they went on to win eight of their next nine matches to take the first spot in the points table. However, they suffered a loss of form towards the end of the regular season which resulted in three consecutive defeats. They won their last league fixture and finished third in the points table and qualified for the Eliminator against the fourth-placed Mumbai Indians. They won the Eliminator at Mumbai by 7 wickets and qualified for the Qualifier. At the Qualifier against Kings XI Punjab, the Super Kings won the toss and elected to field. Punjab went on to score 226/6 in their 20 overs. The Super Kings, in reply, could manage only 202/7 despite a 25-ball 87 from Raina. They crashed out of the IPL, but, on account of finishing third, qualified for the main event of the 2014 CLT20. In the group stage of the CLT20, the Super Kings won two matches, lost one while another match was a no result. Thus with 10 points they finished second in the group table and qualified for the semifinal where they met the unbeaten team of the other group, Kings XI Punjab. After being put in to bat, the Super Kings posted 182/7 in 20 overs thanks to Bravo who scored a 39-ball 67. Then their bowlers reduced Punjab to 34/6 in the eighth over, before eventually bowling them out for 117. At the final in Bangalore, the Super Kings faced the IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders who set them a target of 181 in 20 overs. Raina guided the run-chase with an unbeaten 109 off 62 balls, helping the team to an eight-wicket win and their second CLT20 title. Super Kings spinner Pawan Negi who took 5/22 during Kolkata's innings won the Man of the Match, and Raina, who finished as the highest run-getter of the tournament, was awarded Man of the Tournament.

In 2015, before the players' auction, Chennai Super Kings gave away Ben Hilfenhaus, John Hastings, Vijay Shankar and David Hussey. At the auction they bought back Michael Hussey for a price of ₹1.5 crores. They also bought Kyle Abbott, Irfan Pathan, Andrew Tye, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ankush Bains, Pratyush Singh and Rahul Sharma. In the final, they lost against Mumbai.

2018–present

Chennai Super Kings playing the Kings XI Punjab in the 2018 Indian Premier League at the MCA Stadium in Pune, Maharashtra.

Ahead of the players mega auction, Chennai Super Kings retained Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina & Ravindra Jadeja. Additionally, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo were brought back into the side using RTM. The return of the Super Kings to the IPL was the cause of a large amount of celebration and fanfare amongst the fans, with a crowd of more than 10,000 turning up for the practice sessions held at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai before the start of the tournament.

Chennai's campaign started off with a thrilling one wicket win over the Mumbai Indians in the first match of the season thanks to an unbeaten 68 off 30 balls from Dwayne Bravo. Playing their first home game in Chennai, the Kings successfully managed to chase down a target of 202 set by the Kolkata Knight Riders, aided by a quickfire half-century by Sam Billings. The team then went on to lose to Kings XI Punjab in Mohali but bounced back by winning three matches in a row against the Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Super Kings' next eight matches resulted in them alternating between victories and defeats by winning against the Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab and losing against the Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils and the Kolkata Knight Riders. The league stage ended with the Super Kings in second place behind the Sunrisers. Chennai then went on to post back-to-back victories against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first qualifier and in the final to win the Indian Premier League for the third time since the inception of the tournament. Star all-rounder Shane Watson was ajudged Man of the Match for his 117* from 57 balls.

Three of the five centuries scored in the 2018 season were by players belonging to the Chennai Super Kings (Ambati Rayudu 100* and Shane Watson 106, 117*). The Super Kings also became the first team to defeat an opposing team (Sunrisers Hyderabad) four times in a single season.

In 2019, the Super Kings was the first team to qualify for the Playoffs. They entered the final of the IPL for the eighth time in the league. At the final, batting first, the Mumbai Indians made 149/8 in their 20 overs. In reply, the Super Kings were able to make just one short of Mumbai's total 148/7 and lost the title. Super Kings' star bowler of the season Imran Tahir, who took 26 wickets, won the Purple Cap for bagging the most wickets.

Before the 2020 season of the IPL, CSK roped in Sam Curran (₹5.5 crore), Josh Hazlewood (₹2 crore), Piyush Chawla (₹6.75 crore) and R. Sai Kishore (₹20 lakh). But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IPL was postponed and shifted to the UAE. CSK faced some early setbacks before the start of the season after cricketers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Deepak Chahar tested positive for the coronavirus. CSK's star batsman and vice-captain Suresh Raina and spinner Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the IPL citing personal reasons.

Despite the setbacks, CSK started the season off on a high by convincingly beating the defending champions Mumbai Indians in the inaugural game. But it was all downhill from here. CSK lost their next three games to the Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. This was followed by an out of the blue 10 wicket win over the Kings XI Punjab. The team then lost their next two matches to the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. CSK captain MS Dhoni drew a lot of criticism from the fans and supporters over his form and team selection after his comments on the team youngsters lacking the "spark" to be backed by the management.

CSK were at the bottom of the table for most of the season and their play-offs hopes were crushed after facing a humiliating 10 wickets defeat against the Mumbai Indians.

CSK ended their campaign on a high note by winning their last three games against KKR, RCB and KXIP, thanks to a hattrick of fifties by youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad. He also became the first ever CSK cricketer to score three consecutive fifties in the team's history. CSK finished 7th overall in the points table and failed to make the playoffs for the very first time.

CSK released many of their bad performers from the previous season like Piyush Chawla, Kedar Jadhav and Murali Vijay before the player auctions for the 2021 season of the IPL. During the auctions, CSK picked up Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara for base price of Rs 50 lakh while spending a whopping Rs 9.25 crore on Krishnappa Gowtham, making the spinner the most expensive uncapped Indian buy ever. They also bought English all-rounder Moeen Ali for Rs 7 crore. Along with the three, CSK brought some uncapped Indian talents like Harishankar Reddy, Bhagath Varma and Chezhian Harinishanth for their base price of Rs 20 lakh each. Rajasthan Royals player Robin Uthappa was traded to the Super Kings as well.

Home ground

Home record of the Super Kings
	Matches	Wins	Losses	Tie/NR	Success Rate
In IPL	39	26	13	0	66.67%
In CLT20	4	1	3	0	25%
Overall	43	27	16	0	62.79%

Main article: M. A. Chidambaram Stadium

The home ground of the Super Kings is the historic M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (commonly called "The Chepauk") located in Chennai. The stadium is named after former BCCI President M. A. Chidambaram. It is the oldest stadium in India which is in continuous use. The stadium is owned by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and has a seating capacity of 50,000 as of May 2013. In 2010, the stadium underwent a major renovation for hosting some of the matches of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. The seating capacity was increased from 36,000 to 50,000 and three new stands were established during this renovation.

The Super Kings have a 67.44% win record at this venue, which is often referred to as "Fortress Chepauk" and "Lions' den". In the 2011 season, the Super Kings won all their home games (8 matches) including the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Super Kings thus became the first team to win all their home games in a season and also the first team to win the tournament at home.

In 2014, Chennai Super Kings played all their home matches at Ranchi due to issues with Government of Tamil Nadu.

In 2018, Chennai Super Kings managed to play a solitary home game against Kolkata Knight Riders due to members of a few fringe political parties staging protests outside the stadium as well as several parts of Chennai, demanding the IPL matches to be moved out of the city until the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) was set up as directed by the honourable Supreme Court of India. Despite tight security for the match against KKR, the Chennai police expressed their inability in ensuring enough personnel at the venue for the smooth conduct of the remaining games. The remaining six home matches of Chennai Super Kings were moved out of Chennai. Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune was selected to host the remaining six home matches of Chennai Super Kings.

Panoramic view of the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in 2012.

Players

Main article: List of Chennai Super Kings cricketers

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the first Indian captain to win the IPL.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was the captain of the Indian limited-overs team in 2008, was bought by the Super Kings for $1.5 million at the 2008 players' auction. He was the most expensive player in the IPL until 2009 when the Super Kings signed up English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for $1.55 million. Dhoni is one of the most successful captains in the IPL, having led the Super Kings to eight finals of which the team has won three.

The vice-captain of the team from 2008 to 2015 was Suresh Raina. Raina holds multiple IPL records such as most caps, most runs and most catches. Australian batsman Michael Hussey has the best batting average for the Super Kings. He was the first batsman from the Super Kings to score a century in the IPL. After Matthew Hayden's retirement in 2010, Hussey took over his place of opening batsman and was the team's leading run-scorer in 2011 and 2013 seasons. Murali Vijay, who played for the team from 2009 to 2013, is the first Indian batsman to score two centuries in the IPL. Super Kings' spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has the third best economy rate in IPL (6.53) and is the leading wicket-taker for the team.

Team identity

Team name, logo design, crest and colors

The Chennai franchise named the team as Chennai Super Kings to honour the rulers of the Tamil empire. The word "super" is used commonly in southern India especially in Tamil Nadu. The team name also derives from India Cements' brand "Coromandel King".

The team logo features the head of a roaring lion in orange and the team name rendered in blue. The crown above the team name is the same as that used in the logo of the brand Coromandel King. According to the logo designers, since the lion is the king of the jungle, the roaring lion logo reflects the team name. The details of the logo signifies various qualities such as youth, vibrancy, solid performance orientation and fiery spirit.

The team's primary colour is yellow with blue and orange stripes on either sides of the jersey. The jersey also incorporates the roaring lion logo in the center of the shirt below the logo of the main sponsor. The basic look of the jersey has remained the same from the first season with no changes except for the sponsor placement. The kit manufacturer until 2014 was Reebok and from 2015, Australian Apparel and Sports Gear manufacturer Spartan manufactures kits for the team.

Theme song

The team's theme song is the "Whistle Podu" designed by Aravind–Shankar (duo of Aravind Murali and Jaishankar Iyer). Although the track was created only for YouTube in 2008, it gained popularity during the 2009 season and later became the team's theme song. The video of the song represents the street dance form of dappangutthu which is very popular among certain communities in Tamil Nadu. It is also a folk dance and music genre employed in Tamil cinema. The recordings of some of the Super Kings players whistling were used in the music video.

Kit and sponsors

Myntra signed a deal for principal shirt sponsor for the 2021 Season. Muthoot Group was one of the principal shirt sponsors, having signed a three-year deal in 2018. Telecom service provider Aircel was the previous shirt sponsor after they signed a three-year deal in 2008 which was then renewed in 2011 for ₹850 million, then the most expensive sponsorship deal in IPL. The team also has sponsorship deals with India Cements, Gulf Oil, Equitas Small Finance Bank, HIL, Nippon Paint, Parle Agro Frooti and Atria Convergence Technologies.

Year	Kit manufacturers	Shirt sponsor (front)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Chest Branding
2008	Reebok	Aircel	India Cements	Gulf Oil
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015	Spartan
2018	SEVEN	The Muthoot Group
2019
2020
2021		Myntra

Statistics

Overall results

IPL summary of results

Year	Played	Wins	Losses	Tied	NR	Win %	Position
2008	16	9	7	0	0	56.25	2/8
2009	15	8	6	0	1	53.33	4/8
2010	16	9	7	0	0	56.25	1/8
2011	16	11	5	0	0	68.75	1/10
2012	19	10	8	0	1	52.63	2/9
2013	18	12	6	0	0	66.67	2/9
2014	16	10	6	0	0	62.5	3/8
2015	17	10	7	0	0	58.82	2/8
2016	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018	16	11	5	0	0	68.75	1/8
2019	17	10	7	0	0	58.82	2/8
2020	14	6	8	0	0	42.85%	7/8
2021	7	5	2	0	0	71.42%	2/8
Total	187	111	74	0	2	59.35%

Last updated: 1 May 2021

• Abandoned matches are counted as NR (no result)
• Win or loss by super over or boundary count are counted as tied.

Source: ESPNcricinfo

Support and fan following

The Super Kings have a large fan following across India, colloquially referred to as "Yellow Army". The team has an official fan club called the "Whistle Podu Army" which was founded in January 2016 after the team's suspension from IPL. In 2018 and 2019, there were reports of over 10,000 fans turning up to watch the team's practice sessions. After the team's home games were moved to Pune in 2018, the Super Kings management arranged a charter train between Chennai and Pune, as well as free accommodation, for more than 1,000 fans of the team.

Rivalry with Mumbai Indians

Further information: Chennai Super Kings–Mumbai Indians rivalry

Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have played against each other more number of times than any other two teams in the IPL. They are the two most successful IPL teams and often termed as "big spenders" at the players auction. The two sides have met each other at the final of the IPL four times, with Mumbai winning thrice and Chennai winning once. The rivalry is often referred to as the El Clasico of IPL.

Brand value

Chennai Super Kings was adjudged by Brand Finance to be the most valuable brand at US$65 million after the completion of 2018 IPL. The Economic Times commissioned UK-based Brand Finance to carry out brand evaluation of the IPL and also each of the eight franchise teams (that was increased to 10 in 2011). Chennai Super Kings was rated as the "most valuable team" in the Indian Premier League in 2010–11, with a brand value of $100 million (approximately ₹2.24 billion). In February 2013, London based Brand Finance evaluated the top 150 most valuable teams in the world, in which Chennai Super Kings is placed in the 147th place valued at $46 million, just behind the Mumbai Indians.

Controversies

Until September 2008, BCCI regulation, Clause 6.2.4 stated that "No administrator could have, directly or indirectly, any commercial interest in the matches or events conducted by the board". However, N. Srinivasan, who was then the treasurer and vice-chairman of BCCI, became the de facto owner of the Chennai Super Kings since he was the Managing Director of India Cements. Former BCCI President A. C. Muthiah wrote to the BCCI regarding the violation of this clause in 2008 but the BCCI did not respond. In September 2008, Muthiah went to the Madras High Court to restrain BCCI from allowing Srinivasan to participate in the general body meeting where the election was to be held. However, the suit was dismissed by the High Court and the following day, Srinivasan was elected as the Secretary of BCCI. The clause was amended as "No administrator shall have, directly or indirectly, any commercial interest in any of the events of the BCCI, excluding IPL, Champions League and Twenty20". Muthiah then moved to the Supreme Court which gave a split verdict in April 2011. Later in August 2011, Muthiah filed another petition to stop Srinivasan from taking over as the BCCI President but the Supreme Court rejected the petition, and Srinivasan was elected the President of BCCI.

In 2011, the owners of other teams were concerned about the possible rigging that could have taken place in the IPL auctions. Nita Ambani, the owner of Mumbai Indians questioned the changing order of players just before the auction began. Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi accused Srinivasan of arm-twisting him and rigging the 2009 IPL auction to ensure that English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was bought by the Chennai Super Kings while it was refuted by Srinivasan.

In May 2013, Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of Srinivasan, was arrested by Mumbai Police on charges of placing bets on IPL matches. Meiyappan, who was the Team Principal of the Super Kings, was issued a summons by the Mumbai Police and on interrogation it was found that Meiyappan was in contact with bookies through actor Vindu Dara Singh. Following this, Srinivasan, on 2 June 2013, decided to step aside as BCCI President temporarily until the inquiry into the betting case is completed. In February 2014, the three-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court of India enquired into the betting case, and indicted Meiyappan for illegal betting during the 2013 IPL.

On 25 March 2014, the Supreme Court of India issued an ultimatum to the BCCI demanding that Srinivasan either step down as president or be removed from his position. On 14 July 2015, the RM Lodha Committee suspended the owners of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from the Indian Premier League for a period of two years. On 24 February 2016, the Supreme Court of India agreed to hear a plea for lifting the ban on the Chennai Super Kings.

Seasons

Year	League standing	Final standing
2008	3rd out of 8	Runners-up
2009	2nd out of 8	Semifinalists
2010	3rd out of 8	Champions
2011	2nd out of 10	Champions
2012	4th out of 9	Runners-up
2013	1st out of 9	Runners-up
2014	3rd out of 8	Playoffs
2015	1st out of 8	Runners-up
2018	2nd out of 8	Champions
2019	2nd out of 8	Runners-up
2020	7th out of 8	League stage
2021	TBD	TBD

Current squad

• Players with international caps are listed in bold.
•  *  denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection.
•  *  denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season.

No.	Name	Nat	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Signed year	Salary	Notes
Batsmen
13	Faf du Plessis		(1984-07-13) 13 July 1984	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2018	₹1.6 crore (US$224,000)	Overseas
9	Ambati Rayudu		(1985-09-23) 23 September 1985	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2018	₹2.2 crore (US$308,000)
3	Suresh Raina		(1986-11-27) 27 November 1986	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2018	₹11 crore (US$1.5 million)	Vice Captain
25	Cheteshwar Pujara		(1988-01-25) 25 January 1988	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2021	₹50 lakh (US$70,000)
31	Ruturaj Gaikwad		(1997-01-31) 31 January 1997	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2019	₹20 lakh (US$28,000)
16	Chezhian Harinishanth		(1996-08-16) 16 August 1996	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2021	₹20 lakh (US$28,000)
All-rounders
47	Dwayne Bravo		(1983-10-07) 7 October 1983	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹6.4 crore (US$897,000)	Overseas
10	Moeen Ali		(1987-06-18) 18 June 1987	Left-handed	Right-arm Off-break	2021	₹7 crore (US$980,000)	Overseas
79	Krishnappa Gowtham		(1988-10-20) 20 October 1988	Right-handed	Right-arm Off-break	2021	₹9.25 crore (US$1.3 million)
8	Ravindra Jadeja		(1988-12-06) 6 December 1988	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2018	₹7 crore (US$981,000)
74	Mitchell Santner		(1992-02-05) 5 February 1992	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2018	₹50 lakh (US$70,000)	Overseas
58	Sam Curran		(1998-06-03) 3 June 1998	Left-handed	Left-arm fast-medium	2020	₹5.5 crore (US$771,000)	Overseas
27	Bhagath Varma		(1998-09-21) 21 September 1998	Right-handed	Right-arm Off-break	2021	₹20 lakh (US$28,000)
Wicket-keepers
7	MS Dhoni		(1981-07-07) 7 July 1981	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2018	₹15 crore (US$2.1 million)	Captain
77	Robin Uthappa		(1985-11-11) 11 November 1985	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2021	₹3 crore (US$420,600.00)
18	Narayan Jagadeesan		(1995-12-24) 24 December 1995	Right-handed		2018	₹20 lakh (US$28,000)
Spin Bowlers
99	Imran Tahir		(1979-03-27) 27 March 1979	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2018	₹1 crore (US$140,000)	Overseas
36	Karn Sharma		(1987-10-23) 23 October 1987	Left-handed	Right-arm leg break	2018	₹5 crore (US$701,000)
96	R Sai Kishore		(1996-11-06) 6 November 1996	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2020	₹20 lakh (US$28,000)
Pace Bowlers
65	Jason Behrendorff		(1990-04-20) 20 April 1990	Right-handed	Left-arm fast-medium	2021	₹1 crore (US$140,000)	Overseas, Replacement for Josh Hazlewood
38	Josh Hazlewood		(1991-01-08) 8 January 1991	Left-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2020	₹2 crore (US$280,000)	Overseas
54	Shardul Thakur		(1991-10-16) 16 October 1991	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹2.6 crore (US$365,000)
90	Deepak Chahar		(1992-08-07) 7 August 1992	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹80 lakh (US$112,000)
24	KM Asif		(1993-07-24) 24 July 1993	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹40 lakh (US$56,000)
22	Lungi Ngidi		(1996-03-29) 29 March 1996	Right-handed	Right-arm fast	2018	₹50 lakh (US$70,000)	Overseas
46	Harishankar Reddy		(1998-06-02) 2 June 1998	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2021	₹20 lakh (US$28,000)
Source:CSK Players

Administration and support staff

Position	Name
Owner	N. Srinivasan
CEO	Kasinath Viswanathan
Team manager	Russell Radhakrishnan
Consultant	Sundar Raman
Head coach	Stephen Fleming
Batting coach	Michael Hussey
Bowling coach	Lakshmipathy Balaji
Bowling consultant	Eric Simons
Fielding coach	Rajiv Kumar
Throwdown specialist	Narasimhan V, Kondappa Raj
Physio	Tommy Simsek
Physical trainer	Greg King
Analyst	Lakshmi Narayanan
Massuer	Khalil Khan
Team doctor	Dr Madhu Thottappillil
Logistics manager	Sanjay Natarajan
Source:CSKStaffs

Former players

Indian Players

Overseas Players

Parthiv Patel Mohit Sharma Piyush Chawla Ravichandran Ashwin Kedar Jadhav Harbhajan Singh Monu Singh Murali Vijay Chaitanya Bishnoi Kshitiz Sharma Dhruv Shorey Kanishk Seth Sudeep Tyagi Anirudha Srikkanth Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan Palani Amarnath Subramaniam Badrinath Joginder Sharma Wriddhiman Saha Ankit Rajpoot Pawan Negi Lakshmipathy Balaji Chandrasekar Ganapathy Manpreet Gony Shadab Jakati Arun Karthik Yo Mahesh Abhinav Mukund

Muttiah Muralitharan Michael Hussey Stephen Fleming George Bailey Albie Morkel Matthew Hayden Andrew Flintoff Doug Bollinger Shane Watson Brendon McCullum Dwayne Smith Mark Wood Andrew Tye David Willey Sam Billings Thilan Thushara Scott Styris Tim Southee Suraj Randiv Thisara Perera Jacob Oram Makhaya Ntini Dirk Nannes Kyle Abbott Chris Morris

Result summary

By season

Year	Total	Wins	Losses	NR	Win %	Position	Summary
2008	16	9	7	0	56.25%	2nd	Runners-up
2009	15	8	6	1	53.33%	4th	Semi-finalists
2010	16	9	7	0	56.25%	1st	Champions
2011	16	11	5	0	68.75%	1st	Champions
2012	19	10	8	1	55.55%	2nd	Runners-up
2013	18	12	6	0	61.11%	2nd	Runners-up
2014	16	10	6	0	62.50%	3rd	Playoffs
2015	17	10	7	0	58.8%	2nd	Runners-up
2016	Suspended
2017	Suspended
2018	16	11	5	0	68.75%	1st	Champions
2019	17	10	7	0	58.82%	2nd	Runners-up
2020	14	6	8	0	42.85%	7th	League stage
2021	7	5	2	0	71.42%	2nd	TBD
Total	187	111	74	2	59.35%

Last updated: 1 May 2021

• 1 Tied match - CSK lost in a tiebreaker on one-over-eliminator ("Super Over")
• Tied+Win - Counted as a win and Tied+Loss - Counted as a loss
• NR indicates no result

By opposition

This section include records against an individual team.

Opposition	Span	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	Win %
Deccan Chargers	2008–2012	10	6	4	0	0	60%
Delhi Capitals	2008–2015 2018–2021	24	15	9	0	0	62.5%
Punjab Kings	2008–2015, 2018-2020	23	14	9	0	0	60.87% %
Kochi Tuskers Kerala	2011	2	1	1	0	0	50%
Kolkata Knight Riders	2008–2015, 2018– 2021	23	15	8	0	0	65.21%
Mumbai Indians	2008–2015, 2018	32	12	19	0	0	37.16%
Pune Warriors India	2011–2013	6	4	2	0	0	66.67%
Rajasthan Royals	2008–2015, 2018-2019	24	15	9	0	0	62.50℅
Royal Challengers Bangalore	2008–2015 2018-2019	24	15	8	0	1	65.21%
Sunrisers Hyderabad	2013–2015, 2018	12	9	3	0	0	75.00℅
Total	2008–2015 2018-2021	180	106	72	0	1	58.89%

Team now defunct

Last updated: 21 April 2021

Overall results in CLT20

Year	Matches	Won	Lost	NR	Win %	Summary
2008	Cancelled
2010	6	5	1	0	83.33%	Champions
2011	4	2	2	0	50%	Group stage
2012	4	2	2	0	50%	Group stage
2013	5	3	2	0	60%	Semifinalists
2014	6	4	1	1	66.66%	Champions
Total	25	15	9	1	60.00%

Last updated: 19 December 2018

In Popular Culture

In 2019, Disney+ Hotstar produced a documentary web series titled Roar of the Lion. The series followed the Chennai Super Kings comeback season of 2018 edition after serving a two-year ban for their involvement in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal. The series was shot across Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi in India and in Australia and featured Chennai Super Kings players such as MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar and Suresh Raina. This series is the first one to be released under the label Hotstar Specials. The series premiered on 20 March 2019, in Tamil and Hindi languages.

See also

• List of Chennai Super Kings Centuries
• List of Chennai Super Kings cricketers
• List of Chennai Super Kings records
• Chennai Super Kings in 2021

External links

• Official Chennai Super Kings Website
• Chennai Super Kings at IPL official site