2021 Chennai Super Kings season explained

Club:	Chennai Super Kings
Season:	2021
Captain:	MS Dhoni
Coach:	Stephen Fleming
Ground:	M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Comp1:	Tournament performance
Comp1 Result:	Champions
Most Runs:	Ruturaj Gaikwad (635)
Most Wickets:	Shardul Thakur (21)
Prevseason:	2020
Nextseason:	2022

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is the franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, which has been playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since the first edition of the tournament in 2008. They were one of the eight teams to compete in the 2021 Indian Premier League. The Super Kings have previously lifted the IPL title thrice (in 2010, 2011 and 2018). In the final, they beat Kolkata Knight Riders to win their fourth IPL title.^[1]

Background

Chennai Super Kings kicked off 2021 season by releasing 6 players on 20 January after that they traded in^[2] Robin Uthappa from Rajasthan Royals and looking ready for Auction at 18 February with Rs 19.90 crores left in purse.

Slots left : 6 (5 Indians) (1 Overseas).

Retained Players : MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina (Vc), Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Lungi Ngidi, Ambati Rayudu, Narayan Jagadeeshan, KM Asif, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Josh Hazlewood, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Robin Uthappa(Traded).^{[3] [4]}

Released Players : Murali Vijay, Piyush Chawla, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Monu Kumar, Shane Watson(Retired).^[5]

Auctioned Players : Moeen Ali, Cheteshwar Pujara, Krishnappa Gowtham, Hari Nishanth, Bhagath Varma, Harishankar Reddy.

Supportive Players : Hardus Viljoen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana added for training camp.^[6]

COVID-19 impact

On 3 May 2021 three non-playing members of the team tested positive for COVID-19, including bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji and CEO Kasi Vishwanathan.

Squad

• Players with international caps are listed in bold.

No.	Name	Nationality	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Year signed	Salary	Notes
Batsmen
13	Faf du Plessis		13 July 1984	Right-handed		2018		Overseas
9	Ambati Rayudu		23 September 1985	Right-handed		2018
3	Suresh Raina		27 November 1986	Left-handed		2018		Vice Captain
25	Cheteshwar Pujara		25 January 1988	Right-handed		2021
31	Ruturaj Gaikwad		31 January 1997	Right-handed		2019
16			16 August 1996	Left-handed		2021
All-rounders
47	Dwayne Bravo		7 October 1983	Right-handed		2018		Overseas
10	Moeen Ali		18 June 1987	Left-handed		2021		Overseas
79			20 October 1988	Right-handed		2021
8	Ravindra Jadeja		6 December 1988	Left-handed		2018
74	Mitchell Santner		5 February 1992	Left-handed		2018		Overseas
58	Sam Curran		3 June 1998	Left-handed		2020		Overseas
27			21 September 1998	Right-handed		2021
Wicket-keepers
7	MS Dhoni		7 July 1981	Right-handed		2018		Captain
77	Robin Uthappa		11 November 1985	Right-handed		2021
18			24 December 1995	Right-handed		2018
Spin Bowlers
99	Imran Tahir		27 March 1979	Right-handed		2018		Overseas
36	Karn Sharma		23 October 1987	Left-handed		2018
96			6 November 1996	Left-handed		2020
Pace Bowlers
5	Jason Behrendorff		20 April 1990	Right-handed		2021		Overseas, Replacement for Josh Hazlewood^[7]
38	Josh Hazlewood		8 January 1991	Left-handed		2020		Overseas^[8]
54	Shardul Thakur		16 October 1991	Right-handed		2018
90	Deepak Chahar		7 August 1992	Right-handed		2018
24			24 July 1993	Right-handed		2018
22	Lungi Ngidi		29 March 1996	Right-handed		2018		Overseas
46			2 June 1998	Right-handed		2021
Source:CSK Players

Administration and support staff

Position	Name
Owner	N. Srinivasan (India Cements)
CEO	Kasinath Viswanathan
Team manager	Russell Radhakrishnan
Head coach	Stephen Fleming
Batting coach	Michael Hussey
Bowling coach	Lakshmipathy Balaji
Bowling consultant	Eric Simons
Fielding coach	Rajiv Kumar
Physio	Tommy Simsek
Physical trainer	Greg King
Team doctor	Dr Madhu Thottappillil
Source:CSKStaffs

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

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Teams and standings

League table

League stage

The full schedule was published on the IPL website on 7 March 2021.^[10]

Matches

----------------------------------------------------

Playoffs

Qualifier 1----

Final

See main article: 2021 Indian Premier League final.

Statistics

Most runs

No.	Name	Match	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave.	BF	SR	100s	50s	0	4s	6s
1		16	16	2	635		45.35	466	136.26	1	4	0	64	23
2		16	16	2	633		45.21	458	138.20	0	6	2	60	23
3		15	15	1	357	58	25.50	260	137.30	0	1	2	31	19
4		16	13	4	257		28.55	170	151.17	0	2	1	16	17
5		16	12	9	227		75.66	156	145.51	0	1	0	19	9

• Ruturaj Gaikwad won the Orange Cap award as the player who scored the highest number of runs in the tournament
• Source: Cricinfo^[11]

Most wickets

No.	Name	Match	Inns	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	BBI	Ave.	Econ.	SR	4W	5W
1		16	16	59.5	1	527	21	3/28	25.09	8.80	17.0	0	0
2		11	11	33.4	0	263	14	3/24	18.78	7.81	14.4	0	0
3		15	15	54.0	1	451	14	4/13	32.21	8.35	23.1	2	0
4		16	16	49.0	1	346	13	3/13	26.61	7.06	22.6	0	0
5		9	9	35.0	0	293	11	3/24	26.63	8.37	19.0	0	0

• Source: ESPNcricinfo ^[12]

Awards and achievements

The following players won player of the match awards whilst playing for the team:

No.	Date	Player	Opponent	Result	Contribution	Ref.
1				Won by 6 wickets	4/13 (4 overs)	^[13]
2				Won by 45 runs	3/7 (3 overs)	^[14]
3				Won by 18 runs	95 (60)	^[15]
4				Won by 69 runs	62 (28) and 3/13 (4 overs)	^[16]
5				Won by 7 wickets	75 (44)	^[17]
6	19 September 2021			Won by 20 runs	88 (58)	^[18]
7	24 September 2021			Won by 6 wickets	3/24 (4 overs)	^[19]
8	26 September 2021			Won by 2 wickets	1/21 (4 overs) and 22 (8)	^[20]
9	30 September 2021			Won by 6 wickets	3/24 (4 overs)	^[21]
10	2 October 2021			Lost by 7 wickets	101 (60)	^[22]
11	– Qualifier 1			Won by 4 wickets and advanced to the Finals	70 (50)	^[23]
12	– Final			Won by 27 runs and won the title	86 (59)	^[24]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Faf du Plessis and bowlers stifle KKR to seal CSK's fourth IPL title . ESPNcricinfo . 15 October 2021.
2. Web site: Rajasthan Royals trade Robin Uthappa to CSK in all-cash deal. 22 February 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
3. Web site: 3 February 2021. IPL 2021 Player Retention: Full list of Retained, Released Players List of all teams and Purse Remaining. 22 February 2021. CricTracker. en.
4. Web site: Rajasthan Royals trade Robin Uthappa to CSK in all-cash deal. 22 February 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
5. Web site: 3 February 2021. IPL 2021 Player Retention: Full list of Retained, Released Players List of all teams and Purse Remaining. 22 February 2021. CricTracker. en.
6. Web site: 2021-03-29. IPL 2021: CSK rope in Afghanistan's Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi as net bowlers. 31 March 2021. CricTracker.
7. Web site: Chennai Super Kings sign Jason Behrendorff as replacement for Josh Hazlewood. 9 April 2021. www.iplt20.com. en.
8. Web site: Chennai Super Kings confirm Josh Hazlewood's availability for remainder of tournament in UAE. live. 21 August 2021. Indiatoday. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210822015248/https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/sports/cricket/story/ipl-2021-chennai-super-kings-confirm-josh-hazlewood-s-availability-for-remainder-of-tournament-in-uae-1843815-2021-08-21 . 22 August 2021 .
9. Web site: Myntra takes centre stage on the Chennai Super Kings jersey as official fashion partner. 8 March 2021. Exchange 4Media. en.
10. Web site: IPL schedule. 7 March 2021.
11. Web site: CSK Most runs in IPL 2021. 15 October 2021. ESPNcricinfo.
12. Web site: CSK Most wickets in IPL 2021 . 15 October 2021. ESPNcricinfo.
13. Web site: Deepak Chahar's 4 for 13 sets up big CSK win. 16 April 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
14. Web site: Batting depth, spin twins Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja seal it for Chennai Super Kings. 20 April 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
15. Web site: Deepar Chahar makes it CSK's night despite stunning Andre Russell and Pat Cummins counterattacks. 21 April 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
16. Web site: Ravindra Jadeja's all-round brilliance lifts CSK to top of table. 25 April 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
17. Web site: CSK canter to target of 172 to move to No. 1 on points table. 28 April 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
18. Web site: Chennai Super Kings go from 7 for 3 to victory courtesy Ruturaj Gaikwad. 19 September 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
19. Web site: Dwayne Bravo-led attack does the job, Super Kings return to No. 1. 25 September 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
20. Web site: Jadeja magic takes CSK back to first spot with last-ball win over KKR. 26 September 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
21. Web site: Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood lead dominant CSK into playoffs . 30 September 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
22. Web site: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube blitz CSK to lift Rajasthan Royals above Mumbai Indians . ESPNcricinfo . 2 October 2021.
23. Web site: MS Dhoni turns it on at the close, puts CSK in IPL 2021 final . 11 October 2021. ESPNcricinfo. en.
24. Web site: Faf du Plessis and bowlers stifle KKR to seal CSK's fourth IPL title . ESPNcricinfo . 15 October 2021.