IPL Stats: Top 5 Records by Chennai Super Kings in the history of IPL

Chennai Super Kings are arguably the most popular and successful IPL team across all seasons. They are the only team to have reached the playoff stages of all IPL seasons in which they have been a part of. Out of the 9 seasons of IPL participation, CSK have reached the finals on seven occasions and won the title thrice.

In this article, let us revisit the top 5 records, both of the team and the individual players, created by CSK in the IPL history.

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#5 Lowest ever score defended in IPL - CSK VS Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2009

R.Ashwin - The major beneficiary of IPL

CSK hold the record for successfully defending the lowest ever IPL score. It was in the 54th match of the 2009 season against Kings XI Punjab at Durban. Before the start of this match, CSK has already qualified for the playoffs, while Kings XI Punjab were out of it.

The 2009 season of IPL was played in South Africa. At Durban, on a bowler-friendly pitch, CSK surprisingly elected to bat. They had a decent start when they reached 50/1 in 5.4 overs. But things started to worsen for them with the introduction of Sreesanth into the attack.

Sreesanth got rid of Badrinath and Dhoni in one over, and that was just the beginning as in no time, CSK were reduced to a mere 116 for 9 in 20 overs. Kings XI had batsmen of the caliber of Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara in their ranks. But CSK had two good spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan and R Ashwin.

Muralitharan, Ashwin and Suresh Raina took two wickets each as Kings XI lost half their side for 59 runs. The three CSK spinners bowled 12 overs and took 6 wickets while conceding just 38 runs. In the end, Kings XI were restricted to 92 for 8 in 20 overs. CSK won that low scoring match by a healthy margin of 24 runs. For his spell of 4-0-8-2, Muralitharan was adjudged the player of the match.

CSK successfully defended a score of 116 in that match at Durban which still remains the lowest total ever defended by a team in IPL history.

#4 First side to beat a single team (SRH) 4 times in a season - IPL 2018

Ambati Rayadu - The new hero of CSK

In the 2018 IPL season, CSK became the first team to beat another team 4 times in a season when they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad. As always, CSK and SRH met twice in the league stages of IPL 2018.

In the first league match at Hyderabad, chasing CSK’s score of 182 for a win, SRH fell short by a mere 3 runs when Dwayne Bravo defended 6 runs off the last ball of the match in what went down as a thriller of a contest.

In the second league match at CSK’s adopted home ground at Pune, SRH batted first and set the hosts a target of 180. Courtesy of Ambati Rayadu’s maiden IPL century, CSK reached the target in the 19th over itself.

CSK and SRH once again met in the first qualifier at Mumbai. CSK won the first round of the battle when they restricted SRH to 139. But the chase was never easy for CSK as they first slumped to 39 for 4 and then onto 92 for 7.

Faf du Plessis was battling it out at one end. That indeed, is the beauty of this side as they invariably find different heroes on different days.

On that day, it was Faf who single-handedly won the match for CSK with his innings of 67 off 42 balls that 5 fours and 4 sixes. By virtue of that win, CSK directly entered the final while SRH had to face KKR in the second qualifier.

SRH made it to the finals by beating KKR in Qualifier 2. It was once again CSK v SRH - for the fourth time in the season.

When everyone thought the 'Law of Averages' would catch up with CSK this time around, Shane Watson chose to play arguably his best IPL innings on that day belting 117 off 57 balls with 11 fours and 8 sixes. Thereby, CSK lifted the IPL trophy for the third time.

By beating SRH 4 times in IPL 2018, CSK became the only team to achieve that rare feat in IPL history.

#3 MS Dhoni – Most number of sixes by an Indian in IPL history

M.S. Dhoni has hit the most number of sixes by an Indian in IPL

The CSK Captain MS Dhoni holds the record for the most number of sixes hit by an Indian in IPL history. He has so far hit 186 sixes in 158 IPL innings. However, Chris Gayle is far ahead of the others with 292 sixes in 112 matches.

Dhoni also holds the record for the most number of stumpings in IPL with 33 of them. Dhoni has also scored the most number of runs as IPL captain with 3726 runs in 159 matches.

The Jharkhand-born mastermind is the most successful captain in IPL history among players who have captained their team in 50 or more matches. Out of the 159 matches in which he has led his side, Dhoni has won 94 matches with a win percentage of 59.49%.

The veteran is also the only captain from the inaugural IPL who is still continuing as captain of his team.

#2 Suresh Raina - The all-time leading run scorer in IPL history

Suresh Raina is widely regarded as Mr. IPL

Suresh Raina is the leading run scorer in IPL history with 4985 runs in 176 matches, closely followed by Virat Kohli, who is on 4948 runs. Raina has been the most consistent performer in IPL across all seasons. Without a doubt, he has been one of the greats of IPL.

For CSK, Raina has scored more than 400 runs in every IPL season except in 2015. He is also the only batsman to go past 300-run mark in all 11 IPL seasons. Surprisingly, the all-time leading run scorer in IPL history has never won the coveted orange cap.

Raina also has the most number of caps in IPL with 176 matches to his credit. He holds the record for most number of catches (86) as well. Raina has also represented CSK in 158 consecutive appearances.

#1 Chennai Super Kings – The team with the highest win percentage

CSK has the highest win percentage in IPL

Apart from winning the IPL trophy thrice, CSK have the best win percentage in IPL history. In 150 matches, CSK have won 91 matches with the best win percentage of 60.67%. CSK have reached the playoff stages of all IPL seasons which is a great accomplishment.

CSK are the only side to retain their title by winning the trophy in 2010 and 2011. No other team has won the IPL in two consecutive years. CSK became the first IPL team to win all their home matches in a season when they won 8 matches in Chennai in the 2011 IPL season.

Incidentally, CSK created another record in IPL 2018 by hitting the most number of sixes (145) in a single IPL season.

To sum up, CSK is the most consistent team in IPL history led by an astute captain.