Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai based franchise of the Indian Premier League. The team is led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Stephen Fleming. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is the Super Kings’ home ground. 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.
The name Chennai Super Kings draws on the history of rulers emerging from this region. It should also be noted that the ICL named their Chennai franchise Chennai Superstars a year prior to the formation of the Super Kings.
Fearless rulers have been an intrinsic part of Tamil History. The reign of the Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava dynasties represented the Golden Era of Tamil Culture. The kings from their dynasties, fearless warriors in their own right have fought long and hard to establish the supremacy of Tamil rule and expand the Tamil kingdom within the subcontinent and abroad. It is from this rich heritage that the name “Chennai Super Kings” draws its inspiration.
It is only natural that the modern-day warriors in the sporting arena would try and replicate the exploits of their ancestors. The addition of the word “Super” gives the name a young and contemporary feel, which is in keeping with the game format. The Twenty20 as a cricketing format is all about enhanced drama and speed. The format has no scope for half measures, or anything less than a full-spirited war. In a similar fashion, given the mind-space that the word “Super” occupies in the Tamil imagination, it enhances the qualities of the word it is prefixed to. Super Kings then is not just about royalty, but about absolute monarchy.
The Anthem is “Namma Chennai Super– kings”.
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, Joseph Vijay, a Tamil actor, was made their brand ambassador for the year 2008. Actress Nayantara was also appointed as ambassador but she was removed because she could not attend matches.
The Super Kings started their tournament against the defending champions, Deccan Chargers, in a home match. They lost the match by 31 runs. The SuperKings added two new overseas players to their roster: Justin Kemp and Thissara Perera.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 SuperKings have also roped in former ICL cricketer Hemang Badani and local all-rounder C Ganapathy. Their next match was against Kolkata Knight Riders, in their home ground. Super Kings won by 55 runs. But unfortunately, the team captain- Dhoni got an injury in his elbow. He has been advised not to play for 4 matches till March 25. Suresh Raina will be the take over captain. With the new captain and Matthew Hayden, CSK has won the match against Delhi Daredevils by 5 wickets.
Players’ Profile:
1. MS Dhoni:
The spectacular arrival of Virender Sehwag was bound to inspire others to bat with the same mindset. But the odds of a clone emerging from the backwaters of Jharkhand, whose state side has consistently scraped the bottom, was highly remote. That was until Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived.
Major teams: India, Asia XI, Bihar, Chennai Super Kings, Jharkhand
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
Fielding position: Wicketkeeper
T20 Record: 56 Matches 1333 runs, 73* high score, and 17 catches
2. S. Badrinath:
A run-hungry S Badrinath has been the mainstay of the Tamil Nadu batting since the mid-2000s, and has also captained them. Badrinath stands tall at the crease, and plays with a correct technique. He was pitchforked into the national consciousness in 2005-06 when he nearly topped the batting charts.
Major teams: India, Chennai Super Kings, India Red, Indian Board President’s XI, Tamil Nadu
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak
T20 Record: 40 Matches 578 runs, 64 high and 14 catches
3. George Bailey:
An important man in Tasmania’s middle order for the past few seasons, George Bailey added the captaincy to his list of responsibilities for 2009-10. He had been the deputy under Daniel Marsh for three seasons and it was no surprise, when Marsh stepped down, that Bailey was named as his successor.
Major teams: Scotland, Chennai Super Kings, Tasmania
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
T20s Record: 23 Matches 476 runs and 60 high score
4. Lakshmipathy Balaji:
L Balaji does not know when to give up. It would have been easy to dismiss him as a one-dimensional bowler after his forgettable debut. He erased the memories of being caned for 44 runs off his first four overs, and of two fruitless home Tests against New Zealand, when he emerged one of India’s leading fast bowlers in their historic tour of Pakistan in 2003-04.
Major teams: India, Chennai Super Kings, Tamil Nadu
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium-fast
T20s Record: 27 Matches and 32 wkts
5. Manpreet Gony:
Manpreet Gony forced his way to the Indian one-day team through strong performances in 2008 the Indian Premier League where he was Chennai’s leading wicket-taker and the fourth highest overall.
Major teams: India, Chennai Super Kings, Punjab
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
T20s Record: 29 Matches 115 runs and 31 wkts
6. Matthew Hayden:
Strength was Matthew Hayden’s strength – both mental and physical. It enabled him to shrug off years of carping that he was technically too limited for Test cricket because of the way he played around his front pad, and it enabled him to touch rarefied heights of batsmanship.
Major teams: Australia, Chennai Super Kings, Hampshire, ICC World XI, Northamptonshire, Queensland
Playing role: Opening batsman
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
T20s Record: 28 Matches 1180 runs, 93 high score and 7 catches
7. Michael Hussey:
Michael Hussey almost went bust in 2008-09 as the recession hit hard. The man who had gone closest to nudging Bradman’s average for three years slid towards his team-mates in a lengthy slump that eventually led to concerns over his place in the side.
Major teams: Australia, Chennai Super Kings, Durham, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Western Australia
Playing role: Higher middle order batsman
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium
T20s Record: 30 Matches 741 runs, 116* high score and 18 catches
8. Shadab Jakati:
Like his Goa team-mate Swapnil Ansodkar in 2008, Shadab Jakati used the IPL to get out of cricketing obscurity. A left-arm orthodox spinner, Jakati got appreciable turn from the South African pitches, and was crucial to Chennai Super Kings’ surge in the middle stages of the 2009 tournament. He claimed four-fors in back-to-back games, a remarkable achievement in Twenty20s, to announce himself.
Major teams: Chennai Super Kings, Goa
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox
T20s Record: 14 Matches 107 runs, 43 high score and 5 catches
9. Justin Kemp:
A useful fast-medium right-arm seamer and middle-order batsman, Justin Kemp was predicted by many to have a guaranteed international career ahead of him. He made his debut in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in 2000-01, taking 5 for 54 in the match and winning selection for the subsequent tour of the Caribbean.
Major teams: South Africa, Africa XI, Chennai Super Kings, Eastern Province, Hyderabad Heroes, Kent, Northerns, Titans
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm fast-medium
T20S Record: 62 Matches 1079 runs, 89* high score and 32 wkts
10. Albie Morkel:
Albie Morkel, a right-arm fast-medium bowler and left-handed batsman, has been earmarked as the new Lance Klusener. He rose to prominence playing for his provincial side Easterns against the touring West Indians in 2003-04 when he defied food poisoning to score a century and take five wickets at Benoni.
Major teams: South Africa, Africa XI, Chennai Super Kings, Durham, Easterns, Titans
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium-fast
T20s Record: 96 Matches 1357 runs, 71 high score and 82 wkts
11. Muttiah Muralitharan:
Averaging nearly six wickets per Test, Muttiah Muralitharan is one of the most successful bowlers in the game, the greatest player in Sri Lanka’s history, and without doubt the most controversial cricketer of the modern age. Muralitharan’s rise from humble beginnings, being the Tamil son of a hill-country confectioner, to the top of the wicket-takers’ list in Test cricket has divided the cricket world in the past decade because of his weird bent-arm bowling action.
Major teams: Sri Lanka, Asia XI, Chennai Super Kings, ICC World XI, Kandurata, Kent, Lancashire, Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak
12. Makhaya Ntini:
Makhaya Ntini would seem to possess few of the standard attributes of the successful fast bowler. He packs neither express pace, nor the drip torture of infallible accuracy, nor a quiver brimming with variation. What he does have, though, is almost 400 Test wickets.
Ntini relies on relentlessness, which requires him to strive for levels of fitness not previously countenanced by cricketers, and an unfailingly ebullient character, which buoys him with hope and aggression long after bowlers of lesser body and mind have conceded defeat. These fine qualities made him the heart of the South African attack and the soul of the entire team.
Mainstream cricket in South Africa was under pressure to prove itself worthy of attention beyond its hitherto largely white niche when Ntini emerged from the backwaters of the Eastern Cape in 1993. The script was straight out of Hollywood. Ntini was discovered by the then United Cricket Board’s (UCB) development programme. His next stop was Dale College, a prestigious school where cricket’s roots run deep. Dale was not far from Ntini’s home village of Mdingi, but it was a place beyond youngsters of his humble station.
By the southern summer of 1997-98 season, Ntini was South Africa’s first black African international cricketer. But his career seemed over, or at best hanging by a thread, when he was convicted of rape in 1999. He protested his innocence vehemently and consistently and, with the support of the UCB, was acquitted on appeal.
Ntini returned to action after almost 20 months in the wilderness, and was a fixture in the national team for the next 10 years. In 2003, he became the first South African to take 10 wickets in a Lord’s Test. Five years later he owned the best Test match figures by a South African: Ntini’s haul of 13 for 132 against the West Indies under Port-of-Spain’s blazing sun and on a not particularly lively Queen’s Park Oval pitch was the perfect précis of his career.
His 100th Test, against England at Centurion in December 2009, was celebrated with gusto across the country. But it might prove to be his last hurrah. Ntini was ineffective in that match, and he was dropped for the last two Tests of the England series. His response was to rediscover his zip and help the Warriors win the MTN40 and the Standard Bank Pro20 in 2009-10.
Ntini’s best days are behind him, but he has known tougher times than this. In his mind, at least, he is not done.
Major teams: South Africa, Border, Chennai Super Kings, ICC World XI, Warwickshire
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm fast
T20s Record: 34 Matches and 32 wkts
13. Parthiv Patel:
Parthiv Patel led his side onto the stage during the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century Awards in London in July 2002, some people assumed he was the team mascot. But within a month he had instead become Test cricket’s youngest wicketkeeper – at 17 years, 153 days – when called up to replace the injured Ajay Ratra for the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Major teams: India, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat, India Green, Rajasthan Cricket Association President’s XI
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Fielding position: Wicketkeeper
T20s Record: 36 Matches 696 runs 57 high score and 15 catches
14. Suresh Raina:
An aggressive young batsman who has dismantled bowling attacks across the country, the prodigious Raina puts people in mind of Yuvraj Singh. A string of fine performances at the junior levels – where he frequently bullied his way to double-hundreds – landed him a spot in the India Under-19 squad. His 620 runs in six games, in the 2005-06 season, propelled Uttar Pradesh to Ranji Trophy glory and a couple of composed knocks.
Major teams: India, Chennai Super Kings, India Blue, India Under-19s, Indian Board President’s XI, Rajasthan Cricket Association President’s XI, Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Under-16s
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak
T20 Record: 44 Matches 1077 runs, 98 high score and 9 wkts
15. Thilan Thushara:
Thushara is one of new fast bowling prospects to emerge in the last two years. From the coastal town of Balapitiya, he made his first-class debut in 1998-99. After a few years of steady improvement, including a spell in the BCCSL’s Fast Bowling Unit, he caught the eye of the selectors and was included for Sri Lanka’s tour of South Africa in 2002.
Major teams: Sri Lanka, Chennai Super Kings, Colts Cricket Club, Kandurata, Nondescripts Cricket Club, Singha Sports Club, Sinhalese Sports Club, Sri Lanka A
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Left-arm fast-medium
T20s Record: 28 Matches 124 runs, 33* high score and 31 wkts
16. Murali Vijay:
M Vijay, in association with Abhinav Mukund, added 462 for the first wicket in a Ranji game for Tamil Nadu. They might have fallen two short of the record, but Vijay was told he would have to leave the game midway and join the Indian team the next day for a Test against Australia. He got that chance because Gautam Gambhir, the regular opener, had been banned for one match. Vijay didn’t look out of place at all, scoring 33 and 41, and running out Matthew Hayden.
Major teams: India, Chennai Super Kings, Tamil Nadu
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak
T20 Record: 18 Matches 299 runs, 54 high score and 5 catches
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