2021 Chennai Super Kings season

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]

Chennai Super Kings

2021 season
Coach	Stephen Fleming
Captain	MS Dhoni
Ground(s)	M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Tournament performance	Champions
Most runs	Ruturaj Gaikwad (635)
Most wickets	Shardul Thakur (21)
← 2020 2022 →

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.^{[citation needed]}

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
3	Suresh Raina	India	(1986-11-27)27 November 1986 (aged 34)	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2018	₹11 crore (US$1.3 million)	Vice Captain
9	Ambati Rayudu	India	(1985-09-23)23 September 1985 (aged 35)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2018	₹2.2 crore (US$260,000)
13	Faf du Plessis	South Africa	(1984-07-13)13 July 1984 (aged 36)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2018	₹1.6 crore (US$189,000)	Overseas
16	Chezhian Hari Nishanth	India	(1996-08-16)16 August 1996 (aged 24)	Left-handed	Right-arm off break	2021	₹20 lakh (US$24,000)
25	Cheteshwar Pujara	India	(1988-01-25)25 January 1988 (aged 33)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2021	₹50 lakh (US$59,000)
31	Ruturaj Gaikwad	India	(1997-01-31)31 January 1997 (aged 24)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2019	₹20 lakh (US$24,000)
All-rounders
8	Ravindra Jadeja	India	(1988-12-06)6 December 1988 (aged 32)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2018	₹7 crore (US$828,000)
10	Moeen Ali	England	(1987-06-18)18 June 1987 (aged 33)	Left-handed	Right-arm Off-break	2021	₹7 crore (US$830,000)	Overseas
27	Bhagath Varma	India	(1998-09-21)21 September 1998 (aged 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm Off-break	2021	₹20 lakh (US$24,000)
47	Dwayne Bravo	West Indies	(1983-10-07)7 October 1983 (aged 37)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹6.4 crore (US$757,000)	Overseas
58	Sam Curran	England	(1998-06-03)3 June 1998 (aged 22)	Left-handed	Left-arm fast-medium	2020	₹5.5 crore (US$651,000)	Overseas
74	Mitchell Santner	New Zealand	(1992-02-05)5 February 1992 (aged 29)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2018	₹50 lakh (US$59,000)	Overseas
79	Krishnappa Gowtham	India	(1988-10-20)20 October 1988 (aged 32)	Right-handed	Right-arm Off-break	2021	₹9.25 crore (US$1.1 million)
Wicket-keepers
7	MS Dhoni	India	(1981-07-07)7 July 1981 (aged 39)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium-fast	2018	₹15 crore (US$1.8 million)	Captain
18	Narayan Jagadeesan	India	(1995-12-24)24 December 1995 (aged 25)	Right-handed		2018	₹20 lakh (US$24,000)
77	Robin Uthappa	India	(1985-11-11)11 November 1985 (aged 35)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2021	₹3 crore (US$354,843.60)
Spin Bowlers
36	Karn Sharma	India	(1987-10-23)23 October 1987 (aged 33)	Left-handed	Right-arm leg break	2018	₹5 crore (US$591,000)
99	Imran Tahir	South Africa	(1979-03-27)27 March 1979 (aged 42)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break	2018	₹1 crore (US$118,000)	Overseas
96	R Sai Kishore	India	(1996-11-06)6 November 1996 (aged 24)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2020	₹20 lakh (US$24,000)
Pace Bowlers
5	Jason Behrendorff	Australia	(1990-04-20)20 April 1990 (aged 30)	Right-handed	Left-arm fast-medium	2021	₹1 crore (US$118,000)	Overseas, Replacement for Josh Hazlewood[7]
22	Lungi Ngidi	South Africa	(1996-03-29)29 March 1996 (aged 25)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast	2018	₹50 lakh (US$59,000)	Overseas
24	KM Asif	India	(1993-07-24)24 July 1993 (aged 27)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹40 lakh (US$47,000)
38	Josh Hazlewood	Australia	(1991-01-08)8 January 1991 (aged 30)	Left-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2020	₹2 crore (US$237,000)	Overseas[8]
46	Harishankar Reddy	India	(1998-06-02)2 June 1998 (aged 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2021	₹20 lakh (US$24,000)
54	Shardul Thakur	India	(1991-10-16)16 October 1991 (aged 29)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹2.6 crore (US$308,000)
90	Deepak Chahar	India	(1992-08-07)7 August 1992 (aged 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	2018	₹80 lakh (US$95,000)
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
Supportive Player	Shantanu Bhardwaj
Physical trainer	Greg King
Team doctor	Dr Madhu Thottappillil
Physio	Tommy Simsek
Source:CSKStaffs

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (Front) Shirt sponsor (Back) Chest Branding SEVEN Myntra[9] India Cements Gulf Oil Source:www.chennaisuperkings.com

T20 uniform

Teams and standings

Results by match

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Result	L	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	L	L	L
Position	8	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2

Source: Fixtures
W = Win; L = Loss; NR = No Result

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	NR	Pts	NRR
1	Delhi Capitals (3rd)	14	10	4	0	20	0.481	Advanced to Qualifier 1
2	Chennai Super Kings (C)	14	9	5	0	18	0.455
3	Royal Challengers Bangalore (4th)	14	9	5	0	18	−0.140	Advanced to the Eliminator
4	Kolkata Knight Riders (R)	14	7	7	0	14	0.587
5	Mumbai Indians	14	7	7	0	14	0.116
6	Punjab Kings	14	6	8	0	12	−0.001
7	Rajasthan Royals	14	5	9	0	10	−0.993
8	Sunrisers Hyderabad	14	3	11	0	6	−0.545

Source: ESPNcricinfo
(C) Champions; (R) Runners-up

The four top-ranked teams qualified for the playoffs.

League stage

All times are in Indian Standard Time (UTC+05:30)

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

Main article: 2021 Indian Premier League § League stage

Matches

Match 2 10 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 188/7 (20 overs)	v	Delhi Capitals 190/3 (18.4 overs)
Suresh Raina 54 (36) Chris Woakes 2/18 (3 overs)		Shikhar Dhawan 85 (54) Shardul Thakur 2/53 (3.4 overs)

Delhi Capitals won by 7 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals)

• Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 8 16 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Punjab Kings 106/8 (20 overs)	v	Chennai Super Kings 107/4 (15.4 overs)
Shahrukh Khan 47 (36) Deepak Chahar 4/13 (4 overs)		Moeen Ali 46 (31) Mohammed Shami 2/21 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Anil Dandekar (Ind) Player of the match: Deepak Chahar (Chennai Super Kings)

• Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 12 19 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 188/9 (20 overs)	v	Rajasthan Royals 143/9 (20 overs)
Faf du Plessis 33 (17) Chetan Sakariya 3/36 (4 overs)		Jos Buttler 49 (35) Moeen Ali 3/7 (3 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 45 runs Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Paul Reiffel (Aus) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Moeen Ali (Chennai Super Kings)

• Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field.
• MS Dhoni became the first player to play 200 matches as a captain in the IPL.^[11]

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Match 15 21 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 220/3 (20 overs)	v	Kolkata Knight Riders 202 (19.1 overs)
Faf du Plessis 95* (60) Andre Russell 1/27 (2 overs)		Pat Cummins 66* (34) Deepak Chahar 4/29 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Dandekar (Ind) and Paul Reiffel (Aus) Player of the match: Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings)

• Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 19 25 April 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 191/4 (20 overs)	v	Royal Challengers Bangalore 122/9 (20 overs)
Ravindra Jadeja 62* (28) Harshal Patel 3/51 (4 overs)		Devdutt Padikkal 34 (15) Ravindra Jadeja 3/13 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 69 runs Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings)

• Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
• Harshal Patel (Royal Challengers Bangalore) bowled the joint-most expensive over in an IPL match, conceding 37 runs.^[12]

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Match 23 28 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Sunrisers Hyderabad 171/3 (20 overs)	v	Chennai Super Kings 173/3 (18.3 overs)
Manish Pandey 61 (46) Lungi Ngidi 2/35 (4 overs)		Ruturaj Gaikwad 75 (44) Rashid Khan 3/36 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 7 wickets Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi Umpires: C. K. Nandan (Ind) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (Ind) Player of the match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)

• Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat.
• David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad) became the first player to hit fifty fifties in the IPL, and fourth to score 10,000 runs in T20s.^[13]

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Match 27 1 May 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 218/4 (20 overs)	v	Mumbai Indians 219/6 (20 overs)
Ambati Rayudu 72* (27) Kieron Pollard 2/12 (2 overs)		Kieron Pollard 87* (34) Sam Curran 3/34 (4 overs)

Mumbai Indians won by 4 wickets Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi Umpires: KN Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and C. K. Nandan (Ind) Player of the match: Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians)

• Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 30 19 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 156/6 (20 overs)	v	Mumbai Indians 136/8 (20 overs)
Ruturaj Gaikwad 88* (58) Adam Milne 2/21 (4 overs)		Saurabh Tiwary 50* (40) Dwayne Bravo 3/25 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 20 runs Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)

• Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.

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Match 35 24 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Royal Challengers Bangalore 156/6 (20 overs)	v	Chennai Super Kings 157/4 (18.1 overs)
Devdutt Padikkal 70 (50) Dwayne Bravo 3/24 (4 overs)		Ruturaj Gaikwad 38 (26) Harshal Patel 2/25 (3.1 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings)

• Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 38 26 September 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard

Kolkata Knight Riders 171/6 (20 overs)	v	Chennai Super Kings 172/8 (20 overs)
Rahul Tripathi 45 (33) Shardul Thakur 2/20 (4 overs)		Faf du Plessis 43 (30) Sunil Narine 3/41 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 2 wickets Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Tapan Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings)

• Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat.

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Match 44 30 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Sunrisers Hyderabad 134/7 (20 overs)	v	Chennai Super Kings 139/4 (19.4 overs)
Wriddhiman Saha 44 (46) Josh Hazlewood 3/24 (4 overs)		Ruturaj Gaikwad 45 (38) Jason Holder 3/27 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (Ind) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Josh Hazlewood (Chennai Super Kings)

• Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
• Chennai Super Kings qualified for the playoffs and Sunrisers Hyderabad were eliminated as a result of this match.^[14]

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Match 47 2 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 189/4 (20 overs)	v	Rajasthan Royals 190/3 (17.3 overs)
Ruturaj Gaikwad 101* (60) Rahul Tewatia 3/39 (4 overs)		Shivam Dube 64* (42) Shardul Thakur 2/30 (4 overs)

Rajasthan Royals won by 7 wickets Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)

• Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 50 4 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 136/5 (20 overs)	v	Delhi Capitals 139/7 (19.4 overs)
Ambati Rayudu 55* (55) Axar Patel 2/18 (4 overs)		Shikhar Dhawan 39 (35) Shardul Thakur 2/13 (4 overs)

Delhi Capitals won by 3 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals)

• Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 53 7 October 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 134/6 (20 overs)	v	Punjab Kings 139/4 (13 overs)
Faf du Plessis 76 (55) Chris Jordan 2/20 (3 overs)		KL Rahul 98* (42) Shardul Thakur 3/28 (3 overs)

Punjab Kings won by 6 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Krishnamachari Srinivasan (Ind) Player of the match: KL Rahul (Punjab Kings)

• Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to field.
• Delhi Capitals advanced to Qualifier 1 as a result of this match.^[15]

Playoffs

Main article: 2021 Indian Premier League § Playoffs

Qualifier 1

10 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Delhi Capitals 172/5 (20 overs)	v	Chennai Super Kings 173/6 (19.4 overs)
Prithvi Shaw 60 (34) Josh Hazlewood 2/29 (4 overs)		Ruturaj Gaikwad 70 (50) Tom Curran 3/29 (3.4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)

• Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

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Final

Main article: 2021 Indian Premier League final

15 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings 192/3 (20 overs)	v	Kolkata Knight Riders 165/9 (20 overs)
Faf du Plessis 86 (59) Sunil Narine 2/26 (4 overs)		Shubman Gill 51 (43) Shardul Thakur 3/38 (4 overs)

Chennai Super Kings won by 27 runs Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings)

• Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.

Statistics

Most runs

No.	Name	Match	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave.	BF	SR	100s	50s	0	4s	6s
1	Ruturaj Gaikwad	16	16	2	635	101*	45.35	466	136.26	1	4	0	64	23
2	Faf du Plessis	16	16	2	633	95*	45.21	458	138.20	0	6	2	60	23
3	Moeen Ali	15	15	1	357	58	25.50	260	137.30	0	1	2	31	19
4	Ambati Rayudu	16	13	4	257	72*	28.55	170	151.17	0	2	1	16	17
5	Ravindra Jadeja	16	12	9	227	62*	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^[16]

Most wickets

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

• Source: ESPNcricinfo ^[17]

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	16 April 2021	Deepak Chahar	Punjab Kings	Won by 6 wickets	4/13 (4 overs)	[18]
2	19 April 2021	Moeen Ali	Rajasthan Royals	Won by 45 runs	3/7 (3 overs)	[19]
3	21 April 2021	Faf du Plessis	Kolkata Knight Riders	Won by 18 runs	95* (60)	[20]
4	25 April 2021	Ravindra Jadeja	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Won by 69 runs	62* (28) and 3/13 (4 overs)	[21]
5	28 April 2021	Ruturaj Gaikwad	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Won by 7 wickets	75 (44)	[22]
6	19 September 2021	Ruturaj Gaikwad	Mumbai Indians	Won by 20 runs	88* (58)	[23]
7	24 September 2021	Dwayne Bravo	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Won by 6 wickets	3/24 (4 overs)	[24]
8	26 September 2021	Ravindra Jadeja	Kolkata Knight Riders	Won by 2 wickets	1/21 (4 overs) and 22 (8)	[25]
9	30 September 2021	Josh Hazlewood	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Won by 6 wickets	3/24 (4 overs)	[26]
10	2 October 2021	Ruturaj Gaikwad	Rajasthan Royals	Lost by 7 wickets	101* (60)	[27]
11	10 October 2021 – Qualifier 1	Ruturaj Gaikwad	Delhi Capitals	Won by 4 wickets and advanced to the Finals	70 (50)	[28]
12	15 October 2021 – Final	Faf du Plessis	Kolkata Knight Riders	Won by 27 runs and won the title	86 (59)	[29]