Hyderabad: On paper, they’re unbeatable in the true sense of the term. There have been seven editions of the IPL so far and all of them, this team has managed to qualify for the semis.
Now, if that isn’t amazing, what would be? Consider this. They’ve won two editions, coming too close for comfort of the other teams in the rest of them. They’ve got two IPL (2010, 2011) trophies and two CLT20s (2010 and 2014). Now that’s the real deal.
With explosive players like Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey, with MS Dhoni leading the pack, this team looks downright intimidating.
To add to it, they’ve got bowlers like Ashwin, who’s been a regular at the top 3 of all bowling departments, with ample assistance from Jadeja, Bollinger and now, Irfan Pathan.
However, the journey so far hasn’t been easy. It’s been full of highs and lows, the highs coming on the cricket field, and the blows well, that’s a different ball game altogether.
Embroiled in several controversies including the infamous fixing including ‘enthusiast’ Gurunath Meiyappan, who was found guilty of leaking vital information about team configuration and all, Chennai Super Kings were almost on the verge of being axed from this edition.
Fortunately for them, the Supreme Court gave N Srinivasan, the owner two options: either to continue with his designation with Indians Cements, or play the role of being the team owner, all thanks to the clear conflict of interests which the Supreme Court observed.
While Dhoni has maintained a stoic silence, we hope that this team of big fighters doesn’t spill water on its much-impeccable record.
This time around, the auctions weren’t as much of an expensive affair for the CSK team as they chose to retain 17 players and buy 8, of which Irfan Pathan and Michel Hussey, bought in for 1.5 crores each were the biggies.
Other purchases included Rahul Sharma, Kyle Abbott, Ankush Bains, Pratush Singh, Andrew Tye and Eklavya Dwivedi.
Key players: Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, R Jadeja.
Full Squad:
M S Dhoni (Captain), Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Francois du Plessis, Ishwar Pandey, Matt Henry, Mithun Minhas, Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Samuel Badree, Suresh Raina, Ronit, More, Michael Hussy, Rahul Sharma, Kyle Abbott, Ankush Bains, Irfan Pathan, Pratush Singh, Andrew Tye, Eklavya Dwivedi.