CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

           Chennai Super Kings (Tamil: சென்னை சூப்பர் கிங்ஸ்) (often abbreviated as CSK) is a franchise cricket team based in Chennai who play in the Indian Premier League. The team is led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Stephen Fleming. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (often referred to as Chepauk) is the Super Kings' home ground. They are the current holders of the IPL trophy having won the 2010 Indian Premier League. They were the runners-up of the inaugaral season and the semi-finalists of the second edition. They also have been the only side to make it to the semi-finals in all the three tournaments. The Chennai Super Kings have been in the Champions League twice, the first one being 2008 edition that was cancelled and are yet to take part in the 2010 Season.

Franchise history:

The Chennai Super Kings are a part of the Indian Premier League, made up of 10 teams. The franchise is currently owned by India Cements, who paid US $91 million to acquire the rights to the franchise for 10 years in 2008. N. Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements Ltd., is the defacto owner of the Chennai Super Kings, by means of his position within the company. He is also the Secretary of the BCCI.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former captain of the Indian Cricket Team, is the brand ambassador for the franchise at present, and former Indian opener V. B. Chandrasekhar is the Chief Selector. To gather more support from local fans, actor Joseph Vijay and actress Nayantara were also appointed as ambassadors. Nayanthara was later removed because she could not attend matches. Vijay served as the brand Ambassador till the end of 2009 season and has since then given up his position due to his other commitments.

2008 season:

During the first player auctions for the inaugural IPL season, conducted in January 2008, the Chennai team was able to outbid its competitors to buy current Indian team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for $1,5 million, winning the highest bid.

The Super Kings had a solid start to their 2008 IPL Season, winning their first 4 matches. However, their top order and bowling attack took a hit after Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jacob Oram left the team for international duty. The team's performance reflected this, as they proceeded to lose their next 3 matches. The batting, although inconsistent, eventually adjusted to the losses of Hayden and Hussey with contributions from Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel. The gap in the team's bowling left by Oram's departure was eventually filled by the arrival of Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel (both of whom were playing the Pro20 domestic tournament in South Africa during the start of the tournament) and the emergence of Manpreet Gony. A win in the final league match against the Deccan Chargers ensured their progress into the semi-finals, finishing the group stage at third rank.

The team defeated the Kings XI Punjab in the semifinal by 9 wickets, thus entering the final, which they lost to Rajasthan Royals by three wickets off the last ball. The Super Kings were the team to post the highest total in the tournament (240 against Kings XI Punjab), which was only broken in the 2010 season by the Super Kings themselves. Moreover, Lakshmipathy Balaji took the first hat-trick of the IPL in the second match against the Punjab team. The team also won the Fly Kingfisher Fair Play Awards. Suresh Raina scored the most runs (421) for Chennai, while Manpreet Gony took most wickets (17).

2009 season

Apart from Andrew Flintoff, Thilan Thushara from Sri Lanka, George Bailey from Tasmania, Australia and Murali Vijay, the Tamil Nadu batsman who played for India in two test matches, and Sudeep Tyagi, who had missed the 2008 season due to injury, returned for the second season, which has held in South Africa. In addition, Shadab Jakati of Goa was also added to the team, a left field selection by V. B. Chandrasekhar, the team's Director of Cricketing Operations. Five players, Srikanth Anirudha, Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut, Selvam Suresh Kumar, Abhinav Mukund and Napoleon Einstein were sent back from South Africa to trim the squad. Michael Hussey opted out of the 2009 season, however, he decided to come back for the semi-finals but was not picked to play though. Andrew Flintoff picked up a knee injury and was withdrawn from the tournament and returned to England early in the tournament.

The Super Kings played the first match of the tournament, which they lost to the Mumbai IndiansRoyal Challengers Bangalore by 92 runs, beforing losing their next two matches. However, things took a turn with a five-game winning streak for the Super Kings, eventually even taking the top spot. They entered the semifinals after their win against Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets, finishing the group stage at second, where they were eliminated by the Royal Challengers Bangalore. by 19 runs. They won the second match against the

Mathew Hayden was the Orange cap winner, being the leading run scorer in IPL 2009, scoring 572 runs in 12 matches with an average of 52 and strike rate of 144.81. Meanwhile, Muttiah Muralitharan had the best economy rate of the tournament (5.22) and was also Chennai's highest wicket taker (14).

2010 season

The Super Kings added three new overseas players to their roster: Justin Kemp, Thissara Perera and Doug Bollinger. One of these two will fill in the empty slot while the other shall serve as a substitute to Andrew Flintoff, who has planned to skip this season. The Super Kings also roped in former ICL cricketer Hemang Badani and local all-rounder Ganapathy.

The Super Kings started their tournament against the defending champions, Deccan Chargers, in a home match. They lost the match by 31 runs. The Super Kings a roller-coaster ride throughout the tournament. They did not play their best in the first half of the tournament due to which they lost the majority of the matches they played. But the Super Kings made an admirable comeback by winning 5 of the matches played in the latter half of the season. This boosted their Net Run Rate, which ultimately proved to be the factor leading to their qualification for the semi-finals as three other teams were also tied on points. The Super Kings defeated the defending champions Deccan Chargers to qualify for the IPL final. The win also assured them a place in the Champions League Twenty20.

The final match of IPL 2010 (Chennai Super Kings vs. Mumbai Indians) was played on 25 April 2010 on the DY Patil Stadium. M S Dhoni(Captain - CSK) won the toss and elected to bat. Chennai Super Kings scored 168 for 5 at the end of 20 Overs. Mumbai Indians scored 146 for 9 at the end of 20 overs and hence lost the match by 22 runs. Man of the match: Suresh Raina(Chennai Super Kings). Finally the Chennai Super Kings were crowned the winners of the Indian Premier League. This is also the first time an Indian captain won this tournament. The first IPL season was won by Rajasthan Royals captained by Shane Warne, and the second IPL Season was won by the Deccan Chargers captained by Adam Gilchrist.