Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai based franchise of the Indian Premier League. The team is led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, currently the captain of the Indian cricket team, and coached by Stephen Fleming. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (often referred to as Chepauk) is the Super Kings' home ground.

Players

Chennai Super Kings are one of the three franchises with no icon player. The lack of an icon player benefited the Super Kings during the bidding as they managed to bid successfully on two (Dhoni & Muralitharan) of the six A listed players.

In February 2009, the Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Premier League bought Andrew Flintoff for USD1,550,000 which was a good $600,000 above his base price of $950,000. This makes him the highest paid IPL player along with compatriot Kevin Pietersen surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni's $1,500,000.

2008 IPL Season

A Chennai vs Kolkata match in progress at the M.A. Chidambaram Cricket Stadium

The Super Kings had a solid start to their 2008 IPL Season, winning their first 4 matches. However, their top order and bowling attack took a hit after Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram left the team for international duty. The team's performance reflected this, as they proceeded to lose their next 3 matches. The batting, although inconsistent, eventually adjusted to the losses of Hayden and Hussey with contributions from Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel. The gap in the team’s bowling left by Oram’s departure was eventually filled by the arrival of Makhaya Ntini and Morkel (both of whom were playing the Pro20 domestic tournament in South Africa during the start of the tournament) and the emergence of Manpreet Gony. A win in the final league match against the Deccan Chargers ensured their progress into the semi-finals.

The team defeated the Kings XI Punjab in the semifinal by 9 wickets. They lost the final to Rajasthan Royals by three wickets off the last ball.

source : wikipedia