5 most surprising decisions ever by the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings

T20 cricket has always been one of those formats of the game which is always full of uncertainties.

And if you talk about the Indian Premier League then the franchises and the team management have never been predictable.

Whether it's the on-field decisions or off-field decisions, you can never predict what is going to be the team's next step.

Here we are talking about the IPL Franchise which is returning after two years of suspension. We are talking about the Pride of Tamil Nadu, the Chennai Super Kings.

The team along with Rajasthan Royals was suspended for two years for being involved in the spot-fixing case of IPL 2013.

Chennai Super Kings have always been a team with a huge fan following. Culture, Unconditional Love for fans and Players etc have always been the best part of the franchise.

The team has been one of the most successful and consistent teams of the tournament.

They have qualified for the playoffs in all the eight seasons they have played, went into the finals six times and won the title twice.

As the Chennai Super Kings are back with a bang in the IPL 2018. Here we look at the five most surprising decisions taken by the team in all the eight seasons they've played.

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#5 Using RTM for Faf Du Plessis instead of Brendon McCullum in the IPL Auctions 2018

Mccullum has a better record in T20's as compared to Du Plessis

The IPL Auction 2018 was the biggest auction ever in the history of IPL since the inaugural season.

While some of the teams gave full focus on maintaining their core, some teams completely revamped themselves.

The Chennai Super Kings put us all in shock by one of their decisions in the IPL auction. The decision was about using right to match card for Faf Du Plessis.

Chennai Super Kings had two RTM cards. One of them was already fixed to be used on Dwayne Bravo who is deadly with the ball in death overs.

Using the other card for Du Plessis instead of Brendon McCullum (who is much better batsman than the South African captain in T20s) meant that either the franchise needs to buy him in a huge amount or let him go to other teams.

Exactly the same happened as CSK weren't able to pick Baz due to the very high bidding by other teams.

As a result, CSK is lacking a hard-hitting opener in their squad. The team management and the fans of CSK just hope that the South African plays up to their expectations.

#4 Playing Mike Hussey as an Opener

The decision of making Hussey as an opener proved to be a masterstroke

Mike Hussey also was known as Mr. cricket was a part of the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings from the first season.

Hussey is the second player after Brendon McCullum to score a century in the IPL. Hussey mostly played in the middle-order in white ball cricket. He had never opened in any game at the International level.

But the tables turned when Mathew Hayden got injured in the Champions League 2010. CSK announced Hussey as his replacement for the opening slot as there was no opener apart from Murali Vijay in the side,

This decision surprised all of us but little did we know that this is going to become a masterstroke.

Hussey played a crucial knock in a Do or Die encounter in the league stage against the Chevrolet Warriors which also fetched him the Man of the Match award.

The Aussie legend scored 492 runs in IPL 2011 and was one of the biggest reasons behind the Super Kings winning the title in that season. Hussey was also the highest run-scorer in IPL 2013.

This surprising decision by the franchise turned out to be one of the biggest masterstrokes of the IPL history.

#3 Ravichandran Ashwin opening the innings vs KKR 2013

Ashwin opened the innings for CSK in this run chase against KKR

The 26th match of the IPL 2013 was played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings.

This match saw something that had never happened before. Chennai was searching a good combination at the top order since the likes of Murali Vijay and Anirudha Srikanth weren't able to perform up to the expectations.

The Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came out to start the innings for CSK. This befuddled many of us. Here is how the match went through.

KKR batting first posted a total of 119 runs in 20 overs. Looking at the low score, CSK decided to do experiments in their top order and sent Ashwin to open the innings along with Hussey.

Though this decision didn't come out well as Ashwin was out with a score of 11 runs in 13 balls.

These experiments messed up the game for CSK but thanks to Jadeja's blitz of 36 runs in 14 balls that helped them to pull off the chase

Hussey after the match said,

"I think Ashwin's role was to try and get us off to a quick start, look to take advantage of the first six overs and he had a license to tee off. He hit a couple of good boundaries but, as it can happen in T20 cricket, you can get out anytime!".

This decision didn't come well even with the trollers as they rated this as one of the most horrible decisions in the history of IPL.

#2 Giving the new ball to R. Ashwin vs RCB 2011

Ashwin dismissed Chris Gayle for a duck in the final of IPL 2011

The final of the fourth edition of IPL saw the defending champions Chennai Super Kings and the table toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore facing each other for IPL 2011 title.

It was the second IPL final for RCB. While CSK were playing their third final and had won the previous season.

Winning the toss, CSK elected to bat first. With the help of two scintillating knocks from Hussey and Vijay, Chennai posted an enormous total of 205 runs.

Chasing a mammoth score, Chris Gayle the highest run-getter of IPL 2011 was the only guy who could have pulled off the chase from there.

But the CSK skipper MS Dhoni who is best known for being one step ahead from the opposition did exactly the same. Knowing Gayle's weakness against off-spinners, Dhoni asked Ashwin to begin the proceedings of the second innings from CSK's side.

The Tamil boy didn't disappoint his captain as he sent back Gayle in the fourth delivery of the second innings and made the highest run-scorer register a duck.

RCB after losing Gayle wasn't able to handle the pressure and finished their innings on the score of 147 with loss of eight wickets.

CSK won the match and trophy easily and this decision of giving the new ball to Ashwin turned out to be a masterstroke.

#1 Matthew Hayden at straight mid-off against Pollard in the final vs MI 2010

Dhoni's field placement was critical in dashing MI's hopes of winning the title

It was the finals of the IPL 2010 as the table toppers Mumbai Indians were facing Chennai Super Kings in the final encounter of the third edition of IPL. Neither of the teams had ever won the IPL title before.

Chennai won the toss and elected to bat first. The Superkings had a slow start but with the help of MI fielders' poor fielding and CSK basemen's punishment for those lapses, Chennai finished their innings on the score of 168 runs with the loss of five wickets.

Chasing 169, Mumbai too had a slow start. The wickets kept on falling but the MI management was rigid to not send Pollard.

The Windies all-rounder was sent at no. 8. Until the time Pollard came in, the match and the dreams of winning the title were almost over for MI as they needed 55 runs in 18 balls.

Yet, the big man fought back, took the charge and scored 22 runs from the 18th over.

33 runs were still required from the last two overs. Of the final ball of the 19th over, Dhoni did a strange field setting.

He placed Hayden at the mid-off but it wasn't a normal mid-off, the long-off and mid-off were in the same line. The placement seemed to make no sense. But once Pollard was caught at the straight mid-off on the next ball, Dhoni's streak of brilliance was yet again proved.

27 runs were required off the last over and Mumbai were able to score just four runs and handed over an easy victory to CSK.

Chennai Super Kings won their first IPL title. Yet another feather was added to MSD's elusive cap and thanks to the inspiring team effort and Dhoni's field placements that ensured the silverware to CSK!