Captain: MS Dhoni
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Home ground: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
IPL titles: 5 (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023)
Owners: Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd (subsidiary of India Cements)

The most consistent IPL franchise ever, Chennai Super Kings have been led by MS Dhoni to five titles, and have only finished below fourth place twice. The franchise is owned by India Cements, of which N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and former chairman of the ICC, is chairman. CSK was purchased for Rs 360 crore (approx US$91 million) in 2008.

History

Super Kings have reached the knockouts in 12 of their 14 seasons. Over the years, Dhoni, who was the highest-paid player (Rs 9.5 crore, about US$1.5 million) in the inaugural auction, became the face, heart and soul of the side. His instincts, coupled with coach Stephen Fleming's tactical nous, have been central to Super Kings' success over the years.

After losing the final off the last ball in 2008, and the semi-final in 2009, Super Kings secured back-to-back titles the next two seasons. They faltered in the knockouts in the next four IPLs and were then banned for two years because of a spot-fixing scandal. In 2018, however, Super Kings marked their return with their third title - despite, or because of, their squad being heavy on players over 30.

In 2019, Super Kings played a thrilling final against their bogey opponents, Mumbai Indians, with Rohit Sharma and Co eventually stealing a one-run victory over them. The following year, CSK struggled to adjust to the conditions in the UAE, finishing near the bottom of the table. They bounced right back the next season, going about things the clinical Super Kings way, finishing second in the league stage, then beating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final. In 2022, however, they crashed and burned again, just about managing to avoid the wooden spoon, before storming back again in 2023, taking the title a fifth time.

The highs

Super Kings were trolled as "Dad's Army" after the 2018 auction, but they proved the critics wrong, with Shane Watson, one of their several over-30s stars, delivering their third IPL crown with an unbeaten hundred in the final. They couldn't have asked for a better comeback from a two-year suspension. After their poorest finish ever, in 2020, they took the title again in 2021, again with many of their senior pros still in the mix.

The lows

CSK hit their nadir when one of their top officials, Gurunath Meiyappan, the son-in-law of Srinivasan, was arrested on charges of cheating, forgery, and fraud. Two years later, the Super Kings franchise was also suspended for Meiyappan's activities. Dhoni's personal worst season in 2020 was also Super Kings' worst: they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in their history.

Season by season

2008 - runners-up
Riding on the brilliance of their seamers and of Dhoni and Suresh Raina with the bat, Super Kings wrapped up eight wins in 14 league games and beat Kings XI Punjab with ease in the semi. CSK's seamers and Muthiah Muralidaran dragged the final to the last ball, but Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir ensured a happy ending for the Rajasthan Royals.

2009 - fourth
The IPL moved to South Africa, where Matthew Hayden, Raina and Murali combined to help Super Kings finish second on the table. However, Royal Challengers Bangalore's local boys Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar bested them in the semi-final.

2010 - champions
The season when Dhoni became Chennai's thala. After CSK blew hot and cold early in the tournament, their captain scorched Kings XI's Irfan Pathan for 4, 2, 6, 6 in the final over of a must-win clash. In the final, Kieron Pollard threatened to take the game away, but Dhoni stationed Hayden at short mid-off to trap him, and CSK ultimately sealed their first title.

2011 - champions
CSK turned Chepauk into a fortress this season, winning all their matches there, including the final, against RCB. Suraj Randiv stepped in to fill the Murali-sized hole, and Shadab Jakati and Doug Bollinger had their moments, but R Ashwin was the standout bowler, even taking out Chris Gayle for a duck in the final - in which M Vijay starred with 95 off 52 balls.

2012 - runners-up
Five of their eight victories in the league stage came at home, and then Vijay fashioned a sixth with a century against Delhi Daredevils, launching CSK into the final. Vijay, Mike Hussey and Raina all came good in that final, but an unheralded Manvinder Bisla denied Dhoni's men a hat-trick of titles.

2013 - runners-up
A seven-match win streak eased them into the qualifier, where Hussey, in scintillating form that season, saw off Mumbai with a brilliant 86 not out, setting up a title clash against the same opponents. Super Kings reduced Mumbai to 52 for 4 in the final, but Pollard tipped the scales Mumbai's way with an unbeaten 60 off 32 balls.

2014 - third
CSK lost their opening match, against Kings XI in Abu Dhabi, despite piling up 205 for 4. But they won eight of their next nine games on their way to the playoffs once again, despite their home matches being shifted to Ranchi due to a local dispute. Raina shellacked 87 off 25 balls against Kings XI in the second qualifier, but it wasn't enough to take them to the final.

2015 - runners-up
Another bumper run at Chepauk, winning six of seven home matches. They won three on the road to topping the table, and then saw RCB off in the second qualifier. However, Mumbai beat CSK for the second time in the final. This was an IPL dominated by seamers, with Super Kings' Dwayne Bravo finishing atop the wickets charts and Ashish Nehra in fourth place.

2016, 2017 - suspended

2018 - champions
Super Kings played only one game at Chepauk before their home base was moved to Pune because of the Cauvery river water dispute. Lungi Ngidi provided vital breakthroughs on the seam-friendly tracks in Pune, and at the crunch, CSK beat Sunrisers in the first qualifier as well as the final to return to their title-winning ways.

2019 - runners-up
Finally back to Chepauk, CSK banked on their old spin-to-win template, coming away with six victories in seven home games in the league stage. The solitary defeat came at the hands of Mumbai, where Dhoni sat out to manage his troublesome back. He returned for the first qualifier but Mumbai beat them there, and then again in the final, this time by one run.

2020 - seventh
After Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the tournament for personal reasons, the Super Kings management decided not to pick replacements for them, and by the second half of the season, the ageing side "ran out of juice", as Fleming put it. Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav struggled in the middle order, while the spinners lacked penetration away from Chepauk.

2021 - champions
Not much changed in terms of the squad, but everything clicked for CSK. They won five of their seven matches in the first leg, in India, four more in the UAE, and were clinical as ever in the playoffs. The stars were Rituraj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis, who both made over 600 runs in the season.

2022 - ninth
Injuries to Deepak Chahar and Adam Milne messed with Super Kings' balance and they had to sacrifice their overseas opener, Devon Conway, for bowling cover early in the season. Ravindra Jadeja took over the captaincy from Dhoni, only to hand the reins back midway through the tournament. Jadeja was then out injured. Super Kings finished second from bottom.

2023 - champions
They stuttered at the start, losing four of their first nine matches, before finding their stride. Conway, back in the saddle, was their top run-scorer, with 672 runs. They beat Gujarat Titans, who otherwise looked unstoppable, twice in the last three games. Jadeja, who made ten runs off the last two balls of the final to win it, was one of the tightest bowlers of the tournament.

Key players

MS Dhoni
Even as analytics change the T20 landscape, Dhoni continues to trust his instincts to mastermind victories for Super Kings. While his power-hitting has waned in recent times, he still finds a way to finish games for his franchise. Dhoni is well and truly a cult figure in Chennai.

Suresh Raina
Much like Dhoni, Raina was a fan favourite. He made 4687 runs for the side - the most so far - and missed only one game for Super Kings over ten seasons before opting out of the 2020 tournament. Raina was not retained by CSK in the 2022 auction, and went unsold in the IPL for the first time.

Dwayne Bravo
Bravo, the first player to take 500 wickets in T20s, has several variations in his repertoire, including the slower dipping yorker, and he has become Dhoni's go-to bowler at the death. In the 2013 IPL, he took 32 wickets in 18 matches at an economy of 7.95, the joint record. After retiring in 2021, he went into the CSK backroom as a bowling coach.

Ravindra Jadeja
It's easy to forget that Jadeja has been a part of three other IPL teams because he is so closely associated with CSK. Tight and effective as a bowler, a dependable hitter down the order, and electric in the field, he has been one of their stalwarts and their second-highest wicket-taker of all time - a position he cemented with 20 wickets in their title-winning 2023 campaign.

Deepak Chahar
Chahar was initially seen as a batting allrounder but he established himself as a powerplay swing bowler after being snapped up by Super Kings in the 2018 auction. Next season he turned up with a knuckleball and a back-of-a-length offcutter in his repertoire. In the 2022 auction, CSK forked out Rs 14 crore (US$ 1.8 million) to get him back, but he didn't play due to injuries.

Team records

Squad

(OP) Overseas Players

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Chennai Super Kings