Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League

8th April, New Delhi (CRICKETNMORE) - The T20 format is perhaps the most unpredictable among all since on any given day a major team can be upset by a lesser known side. Thus, dominating in this format in a consistent basis is very much of a hard task. But, ever since the IPL's inaugral, the Chennai Super Kings have shown stupendous consistency in all the editions so far and have qualified in all the play-offs till date, besides winning the trophy in 2011 and 2012 editions.

Indian Cements bought the Chennai franchise for $1.5 million, with Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni made the icon player. They soon shot into the limelight by scoring 240/5 in their first match against Kings XI Punjab, which was the highest T20 score then. With a mix of veterans like Matthew Hayden, Makhaya Ntini, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mike Hussey and youth like Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina the team bonded well and were the team to beat. After managing to reach the finals without any hiccup, they lost to tournament underdogs Rajasthan Royals. 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.

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 three games before being sidelined with knee injury. Unfazed by the South African bouncy tracks, CSK went about their business but was stopped short this time by RCB in the semi-finals.

The lull before the storm. Perhaps this can be best described of CSK's performance in the 2010 edition. Winning only two matches in their first seven encounters, they came back strongly and won their rest matches on a consistent basis. A derby clash in the finals with Mumbai Indians was a match to remember but Raina's 57 and unknown entity then, Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling won them their first trophy.

Continuing their blazing form, Dhoni and co showed their prowess yet again in 2011 and became the first team to win all home games. They went on to beat RCB in the play offs as well as in the finals and lifted the cup for the second consecutive time.

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, but they won three of their last four matches and qualified for the playoffs with a better net run rate than the RCB. But this time they failed to cross the final line and were defeated by KKR in the finals.

The man with a midas touch again led his team into the finals of the 2013 IPL and made a record of being the first team to reach four consecutive finals. This time Mumbai Indians had the opportunity to avenge their 2010 defeat and did it so by registering a 23 run win. 

At the 2014 auction, the franchise bought the likes of Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma among others. Though the first phase of the IPL 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 Ranchi. A loss to Kings XI Punjab in the qualifiers jutted them out of the tournament.

However, the team courted controversy when BCCI Preseident N.Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was embroiled in the betting controversy during the 2013 spot-fixing case. The current franchisee has been transferred to Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd., after Supreme Court recently struck down the controversial amendment to the BCCI constitution's clause that allowed board officials to have a commercial interest in the IPL and the Champions League T20. 

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Abhishek (CRICKETNMORE)