Three IPL trophies, two Champions League T20 championships, ten playoff qualifications, eight final appearances, six Fair Play awards and a massive fan base. Chennai Super Kings has one of the best resumes in the Indian Premier League. It is of no surprise that the franchise garners so much popularity whenever the men dressed in yellow step onto the field. Plenty of legends have represented CSK across the years, apart from some quality Indian cricketers. In this article, we take a look at the all-time best CSK XI in IPL history.
Openers: Faf du Plessis and Michael Hussey
Having played more than 90 games for CSK, Faf du Plessis is currently the third-highest run-getter for the franchise in IPL history. Although he is an opener now, Faf started his CSK career in the middle-order. His consistency has been impressive, especially in 2019 and 2020, in which he got more than 300 runs. In the first half of IPL 2021, too, the South African has crossed the 300-run mark.
Michael Hussey’s impact at the top was unmissable in the initial editions. The first-ever centurion for the franchise, the Aussie won the Orange Cap in 2013. His average of 40.73 is also one of the best for the Chennai-based outfit. Hence, the southpaw features in the all-time best CSK XI in IPL history.
Middle-Order: Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and MS Dhoni (C&WK)
CSK have enjoyed the presence of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni in the middle-order ever since the inception of the competition. Together, the duo has accumulated a total of 9798 runs in the competition for CSK. Best friends on and off the field, MS and Raina have had a significant impact on CSK’s five trophies (3 IPL + 2 CLT20) wins so far.
S Badrinath is a highly underrated T20 cricketer. Much of the credit for his performances must go to the CSK management that used him effectively. In 111 encounters for the squad, the Tamil Nadu man scored 1647 runs at an average of 28.39. Most of these runs came under pressure when Badri’s task was to bail the team out of precarious situations. He was also very flexible, having batted at every position in the line-up until No.8.
All-Rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo
CSK have always believed in including multi-utility cricketers within the XI. This has served them very well, with team balance never being an issue for the franchise in IPL history. For the all-time CSK XI, we have Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo in the all-rounders’ department.
Jaddu’s form has peaked in recent years and is now being looked at as the player around whom the future squads will be built. An all-format player for India right now, the Saurashtra cricketer has collected more than 100 wickets and scored more than 100 runs for the franchise.
The winner of Purple Cap in 2013 and 2015, Bravo has been a fine servant of CSK. The highest wicket-taker of the franchise, Bravo has also got more than 1000 runs for the unit. Another pace-bowling all-rounder who has done well for CSK is Albie Morkel. In the initial editions, the South African’s burst in the death overs with the bat and the powerplay overs with the ball won the franchise many games. With 878 runs and 87 wickets in 89 encounters, Morkel is not far behind in statistics too.
Bowlers: R Ashwin, Deepak Chahar and Mohit Sharma
R Ashwin started his IPL career at CSK and is currently one of the best off-spinners in the game. The cricketer has taken more than 100 wickets for the franchise and has delivered in crunch situations for them. As IPL 2022 draws closer, a few fans of CSK are already pleading with the management to make a move for him in the next auctions.
Deepak Chahar and Mohit Sharma will form the core of the pace attack for this all-time best CSK XI in IPL history. Be it Manpreet Gony or Sudeep Tyagi in the past or Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur recently, CSK has always managed to make quality pacers out of raw domestic fast-bowlers. Mohit won the Purple Cap in 2013, a season where he took 23 wickets. Deepak, on the other hand, has taken more than ten wickets in every season that he has completed for CSK till now. Therefore, both these players qualify for this XI based on their performances in the yellow jersey.
