Chennai Super Kings - History - 2008 Season

2008 Season

2008 Indian Premier League

During the first player auctions for the inaugural IPL season, conducted in January 2008, the Chennai team bought a number of contemporary star cricketers such as M.S. Dhoni, Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Muttiah Muralitharan and Michael Hussey. Dhoni became the costliest player of the auction, as the Chennai franchise bought him for $1.5 million. They also bought Indian players such as Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Joginder Sharma and foreign players like Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel and Jacob Oram. Apart from these they signed several Indian domestic players like Badrinath, Gony, Ashwin, Vidyut, Anirudha, Tyagi, Jakati and Mukund.

The Super Kings got a solid start in the tournament by winning their first game against Kings XI Punjab by 33 runs, after scoring 240/5 which was the highest total of the tournament, a record surpassed by themselves in 2010 by scoring 246 runs. Chennai also managed to win a close match against Mumbai Indians by 6 runs despite heroic efforts by Mumbai batsman Abhishek Nayar. Then they went on to beat Kolkata Knight Riders comforatbly by 9 wickets and Royal Challengers Bangalore by 13 runs in their next two games. But their winning run in the tournament took a hit when their overseas stars Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram had to leave for national duties. Their departure immediately affected their performance as they lost their next three games. The batting, although inconsistent, eventually adjusted to the losses of Hayden and Hussey with contributions from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel. In the home game against Delhi Daredevils, CSK were unable to defend a target of 170 due to half-centuries by Delhi openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. At Jaipur against the home team Rajasthan Royals, the Super Kings batsmen struggled against Pakistani fast-bowler Sohail Tanvir who picked up the best bowling figures in the IPL (6/14). This was also the best bowling figures in a Twenty20 match until 2011, when Somerset spinner Arul Suppiah took figures of 6 for 5 against Glamorgan. CSK lost another home game to Deccan Chargers which was only the second victory for the latter in the tournament. Chennai beat Delhi Daredevils in their next game by chasing a mammoth score of 188, mainly due to the cameos by Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Fleming and Morkel. In their next game, CSK defeated Kings XI Punjab by 18 runs after Subramaniam Badrinath and skipper Dhoni struck half-centuries. The match also witnessed CSK's Lakshmipathy Balaji claiming the first hat-trick of the tournament and in the process also got the first five-for (5/24 in 4 overs) in IPL. However, they were crushed by the Mumbai Indians in Mumbai after opener Sanath Jayasuriya struck an unbeaten 114 of just 48 balls for the home team, to hand a 9-wicket defeat to the Super Kings. In their eleventh match of the season, they beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 3 runs (D/L method) in a rain-affected match at he Eden Gardens. In the same match, Makhaya Ntini took the third hat-trick of the tournament and won the Man of the match award for his 4/32 in 4 overs. The Super Kings were unable to chase down a modest total of 127 after cruising at 60/0 at one stage and suffered a shock defeat at the hands of RCB. In another home game, against Rajasthan Royals, CSK went down by 10 runs chasing 212. Albie Morkel's all-round efforts (2/35 in 4 overs and 71 off 40 balls) went in vain as the Super Kings succumbed to a second straight defeat. In their last league fixture, the Super Kings could easily beat the struggling Deccan Chargers by 7 wickets, with Raina scoring an unbeaten half-century. The Super Kings, despite having a roller-coaster ride in the second half, managed to ensure a semi-final slot with this win as they finished in third place with 16 points.

The side played their semi-final against the Kings XI Punjab, whom they managed to defeat by 9 wickets, thus entering the final. Electing to bat first, Kings XI managed to score only 112/8 in their 20 overs as CSK bowlers dented the innings with wickets at regular intervals. The Chennai outfit faced the resurgent Rajasthan Royals in the final which was played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Batting first, Chennai made a decent total, 163/5, in their 20 overs, with Raina top-scoring with 43 and Parthiv Patel also contributing 38 useful runs. Rajasthan's run-chase was in trouble at one stage, with the scoreboard reading 42/3 in the seventh over. However, Rajasthan's all-rounder Shane Watson added 57 runs for the fourth wicket with Yusuf Pathan, who went on to score 56 off just 39 balls. With 8 required off the last over for the Royals with 3 wickets in hand, the match went down to the last ball, off which Sohail Tanvir scored a single to give his side the victory. Royals' all-rounder Yusuf Pathan won the Man-of-the-Match award for his all-round performance. The Chennai Super Kings won $600,000 prize money as they finished the tournament as runners-up.

2008 Champions League Twenty20

Chennai Super Kings, being the runners-up of the IPL, were among the first sides to secure a berth for the event. However, the tournament was cancelled due to 2008 Mumbai Attacks and Chennai Super Kings, along with Rajasthan Royals, received $1.3 million as compensation.