IPL Countdown: All-time Chennai Superkings XI
The most successful IPL team, Chennai Super Kings are the only team to qualify for the playoffs every season they have played, entering the finals 7 times out of 9 and lifting the trophy thrice. Their win percentage of 61.07% is the highest for any T20 team around the world. As Harsha Bhogle said, CSK must be doing something right that they end up in the playoffs every single season.
Out of the many things that CSK do right, one major thing is the retention of the core. CSK and MS Dhoni cannot be thought of separately and Raina, Jadeja, and Bravo also form an integral part of the team every year. The core has been more or less constant ever since the inception of the IPL, with the likes of Hussey, Ashwin, Vijay and Badrinath being an important part of the setup for a very long time.
As we near the twelfth edition of the biggest T20 league in the world, we look back at the legends who make it to the all-time best XI for Chennai Superkings:
Openers:
The first match CSK played in the IPL, they scored the highest team total of the tournament, which was surpassed by them 2 years later. The heroes of the two instances form the opening pair for the all-time CSK XI.
Mike Hussey
Mike Hussey's 116 in CSK's debut match came while batting at number four. It was in 2011 that Dhoni sent Hussey to open in the absence of an experienced overseas opener and the rest is history.
Playing most of his career as a middle-order batsman, Hussey adapted to the role brilliantly. He stands third in the list of run-getters for CSK with 1768 runs from 50 games at an average of 42.09 and a strike rate of 123.63.
Murali Vijay
Vijay, traditionally known as someone made for the longer format of the game, was a sensation in the 2010 edition. Starting the tournament slowly, Vijay turned into a destructive T20 opener by mixing his elegance with power.
He continued with CSK till 2014 and was bought back again in 2018. Vijay stands fourth in the list of run-getters with 1612 runs at an average of 26.42 and strike rate of 127.83 with 2 hundreds to his name. He is known for his hundred in the 2012 playoffs and his 95 in the 2011 finals.