# 2018 Chennai Super Kings season

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They are one of the eight teams that competed in the 2018 Indian Premier League. It was revealed that Mahendra Singh Dhoni would lead the team for the ninth season in succession, while Michael Hussey is in his first season as the team's batting coach.
Kings retained their former skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and all rounder Ravindra Jadeja from their IPL 2015 squad for 33 crores before 2018 player auction.
The home matches of the Chennai Super Kings were under threat following the 2018 Cauvery water dispute and about 4000 security personnel were deployed in wake of the homecoming match for CSK against the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 10, 2018, at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium. However, later BCCI announced that Pune would be the new temporary home ground for CSK for the remainder of the tournament following the ongoing protests in the state which couldn't be controlled by the security officials.
In March 2019, a webseries titled Roar of The Lion (documentary) is set to be released based on CSK's epic success at the 2018 IPL where they managed to clinch the 2018 IPL trophy after serving a 2-year suspension.

## IPL auction 2018

Chennai Super Kings bought the following players in the 2018 auction:*Kedar Jadhav
* Dwayne Bravo
* Karn Sharma
* Shane Watson
* Shardul Thakur
* Ambati Rayudu
* Murali Vijay
* Harbhajan Singh
* Faf du Plessis
* Mark Wood
* Sam Billings
* Imran Tahir
* Deepak Chahar
* Mitchell Santner
* Lungi Ngidi
* KM Asif
* Narayan Jagadeesan
* Kanishk Seth
* Monu Singh
* Dhruv Shorey
* Kshitiz Sharma
* Chaitanya Bishnoi

## Squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Salary | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||||
| 3 | Suresh Raina | India | (1986-11-27) 27 November 1986 (age 37) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹11 crore (US$1.3 million) | |
| 9 | Ambati Rayudu | India | (1985-09-23) 23 September 1985 (age 39) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹2.2 crore (US$264,000) | |
| 13 | Faf du Plessis | South Africa | (1984-07-13) 13 July 1984 (age 40) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2018 | ₹1.6 crore (US$192,000) | Overseas |
| 66 | Dhruv Shorey | India | (1992-06-05) 5 June 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 81 | Kedar Jadhav | India | (1985-03-26) 26 March 1985 (age 39) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹7.8 crore (US$934,587.50) | |
| 888 | Murali Vijay | India | (1984-04-01) 1 April 1984 (age 40) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹2 crore (US$240,000) | |
| All-rounders |||||||||
| 5 | Kshitiz Sharma | India | (1990-04-21) 21 April 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 8 | Ravindra Jadeja | India | (1988-12-06) 6 December 1988 (age 35) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2018 | ₹7 crore (US$838,732.40) | |
| 33 | Shane Watson | Australia | (1981-06-17) 17 June 1981 (age 43) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2018 | ₹4 crore (US$479,000) | Overseas |
| 36 | Karn Sharma | India | (1987-10-23) 23 October 1987 (age 36) | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2018 | ₹5 crore (US$599,000) | |
| 47 | Dwayne Bravo | Trinidad and Tobago | (1983-10-07) 7 October 1983 (age 41) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium fast | 2018 | ₹6.4 crore (US$767,000) | Overseas |
| 72 | David Willey | England | (1990-02-28) 28 February 1990 (age 34) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast | 2018 | ₹2 crore (US$240,000) | Overseas |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||||
| 7 | MS Dhoni | India | (1981-07-07) 7 July 1981 (age 43) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | ₹15 crore (US$1.8 million) | Captain |
| 18 | Narayan Jagadeesan | India | (1995-12-24) 24 December 1995 (age 28) | Right-handed | | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 77 | Sam Billings | England | (1991-06-15) 15 June 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | | 2018 | ₹1 crore (US$120,000) | Overseas |
| Bowlers |||||||||
| 10 | Chaitanya Bishnoi | India | (1994-08-25) 25 August 1994 (age 30) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 11 | Mark Wood | England | (1990-01-11) 11 January 1990 (age 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2018 | ₹1.5 crore (US$180,000) | Overseas |
| 22 | Lungi Ngidi | South Africa | (1996-03-29) 29 March 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2018 | ₹50 lakh (US$60,000) | Overseas |
| 23 | Monu Kumar | India | (1994-11-05) 5 November 1994 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 24 | KM Asif | India | (1993-07-24) 24 July 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | 2018 | ₹40 lakh (US$48,000) | |
| 27 | Harbhajan Singh | India | (1980-07-03) 3 July 1980 (age 44) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹2 crore (US$240,000) | |
| 34 | Kanishk Seth | India | (1997-11-04) 4 November 1997 (age 26) | Right-handed | Left-arm medium | 2018 | ₹20 lakh (US$24,000) | |
| 54 | Shardul Thakur | India | (1991-10-16) 16 October 1991 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium fast | 2018 | ₹2.6 crore (US$312,000) | |
| 74 | Mitchell Santner | New Zealand | (1992-02-05) 5 February 1992 (age 32) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2018 | ₹50 lakh (US$60,000) | Overseas |
| 90 | Deepak Chahar | India | (1992-08-07) 7 August 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium fast | 2018 | ₹80 lakh (US$96,000) | |
| 99 | Imran Tahir | South Africa | (1979-03-27) 27 March 1979 (age 45) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2018 | ₹1 crore (US$120,000) | Overseas |

## Administration and support staff

* Owner – N. Srinivasan (India Cements)
* Head coach – Stephen Fleming
* Batting coach - Michael Hussey
* Bowling coach – Lakshmipathy Balaji
* Bowling consultant – Eric Simons
* Fielding coach – Rajiv Kumar
* Physical trainer – Gregory King
* Physio – Tommy Simsek
* Team Doctor – Dr.Madhu
* Team manager – Russell Radhakrishnan

## Season overview
### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | |
| 1 | Chennai Super Kings (C) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.253 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 2 | Sunrisers Hyderabad (2) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.284 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 3 | Kolkata Knight Riders (3) | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | −0.070 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 4 | Rajasthan Royals (4) | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | −0.250 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 5 | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0.317 | |
| 6 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0.129 | |
| 7 | Kings XI Punjab | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | −0.502 | |
| 8 | Delhi Daredevils | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 10 | −0.222 | |

### Results by match

| Match | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | W |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

## Fixtures
### League stage

* 7 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Mumbai Indians 165/4 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 169/9 (19.5 overs) |
| Suryakumar Yadav 43 (29) Shane Watson 2/29 (4 overs) | | Dwayne Bravo 68 (30) Mayank Markande 3/23 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 1 wicket Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand) and Nand Kishore (India) Player of the match: Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 10 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Kolkata Knight Riders 202/6 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings (H) 205/5 (19.5 overs) |
| Andre Russell 88* (36) Shane Watson 2/39 (4 overs) | | Sam Billings 56 (23) Tom Curran 2/39 (3 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wickets M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand) Player of the match: Sam Billings (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 15 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Kings XI Punjab 197/7 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 193/5 (20 overs) |
| Chris Gayle 63 (33) Shardul Thakur 2/33 (3 overs) | | MS Dhoni 79* (44) Andrew Tye 2/47 (4 overs) |
* Kings XI Punjab won by 4 runs Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali Umpires: Vineet Kulkarni (India) and C. K. Nandan (India) Player of the match: Chris Gayle (Kings XI Punjab)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 20 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Chennai Super Kings 204/5 (20 overs) | v | Rajasthan Royals 140 (18.3 overs) |
| Shane Watson 106 (57) Shreyas Gopal 3/20 (4 overs) | | Ben Stokes 45 (37) Karn Sharma 2/13 (1.3 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 64 runs Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (India) and Nitin Menon (India) Player of the match: Shane Watson (Chennai Super Kings)
* Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field.
* 22 April 16:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 182/3 (20 overs) | v | Sunrisers Hyderabad (H) 178/6 (20 overs) |
| Ambati Rayudu 79 (37) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/22 (3 overs) | | Kane Williamson 84 (51) Deepak Chahar 3/15 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 4 runs Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (India) and Vineet Kulkarni (India) Player of the match: Ambati Rayudu (Chennai Super Kings)
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field.
* 25 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Royal Challengers Bangalore 205/8 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 207/5 (19.4 overs) |
| AB de Villiers 68 (30) Dwayne Bravo 2/33 (4 overs) | | Ambati Rayudu 82 (53) Yuzvendra Chahal 2/26 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wickets M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore Umpires: Nigel Llong (England) and Virender Sharma (India) Player of the match: MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 28 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Chennai Super Kings 169/5 (20 overs) | v | Mumbai Indians 170/2 (19.4 overs) |
| Suresh Raina 75* (47) Mitchell McClenaghan 2/26 (4 overs) | | Rohit Sharma 56* (33) Harbhajan Singh 1/20 (3.5 overs) |
* Mumbai Indians won by 8 wickets Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand) and Nitin Menon (India) Player of the match: Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians)
* Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field.
* 30 April 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Chennai Super Kings 211/4 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Daredevils 198/5 (20 overs) |
| Shane Watson 78 (40) Glenn Maxwell 1/5 (1 over) | | Rishabh Pant 79 (45) K. M. Asif 2/43 (3 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 13 runs Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Umpires: Anil Dandekar (India) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (India) Player of the match: Shane Watson (Chennai Super Kings)
* Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field.
* Chennai Super Kings recorded their 100th T20 victory.
* 3 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 177/5 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders (H) 180/4 (17.4 overs) |
| MS Dhoni 43* (25) Sunil Narine 2/20 (4 overs) | | Shubman Gill 57* (36) Harbhajan Singh 1/20 (3 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets Eden Gardens, Kolkata Umpires: Abhijit Deshmukh (India) and Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) Player of the match: Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* 5 May 16:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Royal Challengers Bangalore 127/9 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings (H) 128/4 (18 overs) |
| Parthiv Patel 53 (41) Ravindra Jadeja 3/18 (4 overs) | | Ambati Rayudu 32 (25) Umesh Yadav 2/15 (3 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (India) and Nitin Menon (India) Player of the match: Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 11 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 176/4 (20 overs) | v | Rajasthan Royals (H) 177/6 (19.5 overs) |
| Suresh Raina 52 (35) Jofra Archer 2/42 (4 overs) | | Jos Buttler 95* (60) Shardul Thakur 1/22 (4 overs) |
* Rajasthan Royals won by 4 wickets Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (India) and Marais Erasmus (South Africa) Player of the match: Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
* 13 May 16:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Sunrisers Hyderabad 179/4 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings (H) 180/2 (19 overs) |
| Shikhar Dhawan 79 (49) Shardul Thakur 2/32 (4 overs) | | Ambati Rayudu 100* (62) Sandeep Sharma 1/36 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 8 wickets Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (India) and Marais Erasmus (South Africa) Player of the match: Ambati Rayudu (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 18 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| (H) Delhi Daredevils 162/5 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 128/6 (20 overs) |
| Rishabh Pant 38 (26) Lungi Ngidi 2/14 (3 overs) | | Ambati Rayudu 50 (29) Trent Boult 2/20 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Daredevils won by 34 runs Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Vineet Kulkarni (India) Player of the match: Harshal Patel (Delhi Daredevils)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* 20 May 20:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Kings XI Punjab 153 (19.4 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings (H) 159/5 (19.1 overs) |
| Karun Nair 54 (26) Lungi Ngidi 4/10 (4 overs) | | Suresh Raina 61* (48) Ankit Rajpoot 2/19 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wickets Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (India) and Nitin Menon (India) Player of the match: Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Rajasthan Royals qualified for the playoffs, Kings XI Punjab were eliminated and Chennai Super Kings advanced to Qualifier 1 as a result of this match.

### Playoff stage
#### Qualifier 1

* 22 May 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Sunrisers Hyderabad 139/7 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 140/8 (19.1 overs) |
| Carlos Brathwaite 43* (29) Dwayne Bravo 2/25 (4 overs) | | Faf du Plessis 67* (42) Rashid Khan 2/11 (4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 2 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (India) Player of the match: Faf du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

#### Final

* 27 May 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Sunrisers Hyderabad 178/6 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 181/2 (18.3 overs) |
| Kane Williamson 47 (36) Ravindra Jadeja 1/24 (2 overs) | | Shane Watson 117* (57) Carlos Brathwaite 1/27 (2.3 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 8 wickets Wankhede stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Sundaram Ravi (India) Player of the match: Shane Watson (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

## Statistics
### Most runs

| Name | Mat | Inn | Runs | HS | Ave | SR |
| Ambati Rayudu | 16 | 16 | 602 | 100* | 43.00 | 149.75 |
| Shane Watson | 15 | 15 | 555 | 117* | 39.64 | 154.59 |
| MS Dhoni | 16 | 15 | 455 | 79* | 75.83 | 150.66 |
| Suresh Raina | 15 | 15 | 445 | 75* | 37.08 | 132.44 |
| Faf du Plessis | 6 | 6 | 162 | 67* | 32.40 | 125.58 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

### Most wickets

| Name | Mat | Inn | Wkts | BBI | Ave | Eco |
| Shardul Thakur | 13 | 13 | 16 | 2/18 | 26.93 | 9.23 |
| Dwayne Bravo | 16 | 16 | 14 | 2/16 | 38.07 | 9.96 |
| Lungi Ngidi | 7 | 7 | 11 | 4/10 | 14.18 | 6.00 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 16 | 14 | 11 | 3/18 | 27.54 | 7.39 |
| Deepak Chahar | 12 | 12 | 10 | 3/15 | 27.80 | 7.28 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo