5 players who were at their peak while representing Chennai Super Kings in IPL

3. Pawan Negi was a match-winner for the Chennai Super Kings

VIDEO: Watch the rising star of @ChennaiIPL - Pawan Negi's performance against #KXIP http://t.co/vxwft6keJO #CSK #IPL

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 22, 2015

Pawan Negi will play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2021. He started his career at the Delhi Capitals in 2012, but it took him three years to come into the limelight.

Negi emerged as a game-changer for MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings in 2015. A few months after IPL 2015, Pawan even received his maiden international cap. The all-rounder played 12 games for CSK, where he amassed 116 runs in nine innings at a brilliant strike rate of 158.90. With the ball, he picked up six wickets for the Chennai-based franchise.

His cameos helped the Chennai Super Kings a lot during IPL 2015. Unfortunately, CSK received a temporary suspension in 2016. Negi returned to the Delhi Capitals and played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore later, but he could not match his IPL 2015 numbers.

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2. Shadab Jakati

How #MSDhoni used Shadab Jakati to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar and helped CSK clinch first IPL titlehttps://t.co/b2bQ724p89 #HappyBirthdayDhoni (via @thefield_in)

— scroll.in (@scroll_in) July 7, 2020

The man who dismissed the in-form Sachin Tendulkar and the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary in IPL 2010 final, Shadab Jakati, played a match-winning role for CSK during his time at the franchise. MS Dhoni used him to perfection as the left-arm spinner accounted for 46 wickets in 50 appearances for the Chennai Super Kings.

Jakati represented the Gujarat Lions and the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the later phases of his career. His economy rate was 7.75 when playing for CSK; the same rose to 9.20 and 11.18 at GL and RCB, respectively. Also, he could only pick up two wickets in 29.4 overs for the latter two teams.

Thus, it will not be an understatement to say Shadab Jakati spent the best time of his career at the Chennai Super Kings.

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1. Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay in action for the Chennai Super Kings

Murali Vijay earned the tag of a big-match player during his first stint with the Chennai Super Kings. Vijay hit a 52-ball 95 in the IPL 2011 final against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and in the next season, he blasted a 58-ball 133 versus the Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2.

The right-handed opener held the record for the highest individual score by an Indian batsman in IPL for seven years before Rishabh Pant broke it. Vijay registered two centuries and seven fifties for the Chennai Super Kings and was the team's primary opener.

He later played for the Delhi Capitals and the Punjab Kings, but his strike rate remained below 120 during those seasons. The Chennai Super Kings offered him another deal in 2018, but Vijay could not replicate his past performance.