Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League is all set to kick off in the last week of March. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will again be the favourites to lift the title, but they will have to work hard in the mega auctions for that. SportsTiger analyzes CSK and its journey so far in the IPL.
About the franchise
Chennai Super Kings is the second-most successful franchise in the history of the Indian Premier League in terms of title, but they are right at the helm when it comes to fan following. Chennai has a massive fan following across the country. CSK had the most number of social media followers as of 15 Jan 2022 (32.7 million). These numbers tell the story about CSK's popularity. Recently, the Tamil Nadu-based franchise also became the first sports unicorn. However, CSK has also been involved in a few controversies.
Team's history
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been a part of IPL since the inception of the league in 2008. Ever since the beginning, they have played like a champion team. They announced MS Dhoni has their captain and have stuck to him for the leadership role. They reached the finals in the first edition itself. After two seasons, CSK first laid hands on the trophy in 2010. A setback came for the MS Dhoni-led team in 2016 when they were banned from the league for two seasons. However, they made their comeback in style in 2018.
Team's owner
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is owned by India Cements Limited.
Team's skipper
Ever since CSK was found, MS Dhoni has been the only captain to have led the team. He still remains the captaincy choice for the defending champions.
Performance till now
Chennai Super Kings are the second-most successful team of the tournament with four titles. They first won the IPL title in 2010. Continued their dominance in 2011. CSK kept reaching playoffs in all the seasons till 2018 when they won their third title. However, 2020 came as an aberration for CSK as they failed to reach playoffs for the first time. But they bounced back like a champion team in 2021 winning the title for the fourth time.
IPL 2021 Squad
MS Dhoni (c & wk), Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Robin Uthappa, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, R. Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, KM Asif, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Harisankar Reddy, K. Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishanth
Retained players
MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali
Strategy for IPL 2022
CSK will walk into the mega auctions with a simple strategy, to get back most of the players from the 2021 squad. They will eye players like Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur who can take the team forward.
