# 2012 Chennai Super Kings season

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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is a franchise cricket team based in Chennai, India, which plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They were one of the nine teams that competed in the 2012 Indian Premier League. They were defeated by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the final at Chennai. Thus, they qualified for the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 where they could not progress past the group stage.
They were captained for the fifth season in succession by Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Super Kings had emerged IPL champions in both 2010 and 2011 under his captaincy.

## Pre-season player signings

At the 2012 players auction, the team bought Ravindra Jadeja for $2 million (₹ 97.2 million), the bid which turned out to be the biggest draw in the players' auction for the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League. They also bought out the contract of Tim Southee who was signed as a replacement player in the previous season.

## Squad

Players with international caps before the start of the 2012 IPL season are listed in bold.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||
| 03 | Suresh Raina | India | (1986-11-27)27 November 1986 (aged 25) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | Vice-captain |
| 05 | George Bailey | Australia | (1982-09-07)7 September 1982 (aged 29) | Right-handed | Right arm medium | Overseas |
| 08 | Murali Vijay | India | (1984-04-01)1 April 1984 (aged 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 13 | Francois du Plessis | South Africa | (1984-07-13)13 July 1984 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | Overseas |
| 33 | Subramaniam Badrinath | India | (1980-08-30)30 August 1980 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 35 | K. Vasudevadas | India | (1985-01-26)26 January 1985 (aged 27) | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| 48 | Michael Hussey | Australia | (1975-05-27)27 May 1975 (aged 36) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas |
| 77 | Anirudha Srikkanth | India | (1987-04-14)14 April 1987 (aged 24) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 90 | Abhinav Mukund | India | (1990-01-06)6 January 1990 (aged 22) | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| All-rounders |||||||
| 12 | Ravindra Jadeja | India | (1988-12-06) 6 December 1988 (age 35) | Left-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | |
| 47 | Dwayne Bravo | Trinidad and Tobago | (1983-10-07)7 October 1983 (aged 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Overseas |
| 56 | Scott Styris | New Zealand | (1975-07-10)10 July 1975 (aged 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas |
| 81 | Albie Morkel | South Africa | (1981-06-10)10 June 1981 (aged 30) | Left-handed | Right arm medium-fast | Overseas |
| – | Ganapathi Vignesh | India | (1981-09-11)11 September 1981 (aged 30) | Right-handed | Right arm medium-fast | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| 06 | Wriddhiman Saha | India | (1984-10-24)24 October 1984 (aged 27) | Right-handed | – | |
| 07 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | India | (1981-07-07)7 July 1981 (aged 30) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Captain |
| Bowlers |||||||
| 04 | Doug Bollinger | Australia | (1981-07-24)24 July 1981 (aged 30) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | Overseas |
| 09 | Yo Mahesh | India | (1987-12-21)21 December 1987 (aged 24) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| 17 | Sudeep Tyagi | India | (1987-09-19)19 September 1987 (aged 24) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| 23 | Joginder Sharma | India | (1983-10-23)23 October 1983 (aged 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| 27 | Shadab Jakati | India | (1980-11-27)27 November 1980 (aged 31) | Left-handed | Slow left arm orthodox | |
| 88 | Suraj Randiv | Sri Lanka | (1985-01-30)30 January 1985 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Overseas |
| 92 | Nuwan Kulasekara | Sri Lanka | (1982-07-22)22 July 1982 (aged 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Overseas |
| 99 | Ravichandran Ashwin | India | (1986-09-17)17 September 1986 (aged 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |

## Indian Premier League

The Super Kings started their IPL 2012 campaign with an 8-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener in Chennai. CSK were bundled out for 112 before Richard Levi struck a fifty to set up the victory for the visiting team. Ravindra Jadeja came up with a match-winning all-round performance (48 off 29, 5/16) to help his team to a resounding 74-run win over Deccan Chargers in their second home game. In their first away game of the season, the Super Kings lost to Delhi Daredevils by 8 wickets after a poor show by the batsmen. Their win against Royal Challengers Bangalore was made possible by Albie Morkel, who scored 28 runs from the 19th over bowled by Virat Kohli, and Jadeja who hit a boundary off the last ball of the match to see his side chase down the target of 206. South African Francois du Plessis was adjudged Man of the match for his innings of 71. At Pune, after restricting the Super Kings to 155, Jesse Ryder and Steve Smith took the Pune Warriors home with four balls to spare to hand a third defeat to CSK in five games. However they beat the same opponents at home by 13 runs after du Plessis and Subramaniam Badrinath scored fifties in the first innings. du Plessis struck another half-century (73 off 52) to take Chennai to their second consecutive win. Their next game, which was supposed to be played at Bangalore against the Royal Challengers, was washed out without a ball bowled due to rain. They suffered a home defeat against Kings XI Punjab after they failed to chase the target of 157. KXIP's Mandeep Singh was awarded the Man of the match for his innings of 56. They lost another home game by 5 wickets to Kolkata Knight Riders whose run chase was anchored by skipper Gautam Gambhir's half-century. Chennai got back to winning ways with a 10-run win over the struggling Deccan Chargers despite a fighting knock by the Chargers' vice-captain Cameron White. The Super Kings then lost to Mumbai Indians off the last ball of the match. Dwayne Smith, who was playing his first match of the season for Mumbai, hit 14 runs off the last three balls bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus to take his team to a dramatic victory. The loss severely dented CSK's chances of progressing to the Playoffs. In another thrilling match, Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets mainly due to cameos by Albie Morkel and Anirudha Srikkanth, each of them scoring unbeaten six-ball 18. In their last home match of the league stage, Chennai comprehensively beat the Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, needing five to win on the last ball for CSK, Dwayne Bravo hit a six over long-on off the bowling of Rajat Bhatia to take the Super Kings to a 5-wicket win. Needing a win in their last league match to assure their place in the Playoffs, the Super Kings lost to Kings XI Punjab by 7 wickets at Dharamsala. However, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, both ended up with 17 points from 16 games, but the latter managed to get the fourth spot on the points table due to a better net run rate.
The Super Kings played Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator at Bangalore. After losing two early wickets, Hussey and Badrinath shared a 94-run third-wicket partnership to take the team to a respectable position. Then, the skipper MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo scored 73 runs in the last five overs to set up a score of 187/5 in 20 overs. Mumbai in their run-chase got off to a brisk start before a dramatic batting collapse. CSK spinners Ashwin and Jakati picked up one wicket each and bowled seven economical overs between them that proved decisive in the context of the match. CSK won the match by 38 runs and Dhoni was given the Man of the Match for his innings of 51* (20). The win took them to the second Qualifier at Chennai, a match against Delhi Daredevils, to decide who plays in the final. Daredevils won the toss and put Chennai into bat and this decision backfired. Opener Murali Vijay, who had a quiet season until then, came to his own striking a century (113 runs from 60 deliveries, 15 fours and four sixes) to take his team to 222/5. The bowlers backed up the good batting by bowling tight line and length and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Only Mahela Jayawardene showed some resistance for Delhi with a knock of 55 but to see his team lose by 86 runs. The win booked CSK's place in the final at their home ground Chennai against the Kolkata Knight Riders. This was the fourth time in five seasons, that CSK had made it to the final of the IPL.
Chennai elected to bat in the final after winning the toss. After a solid opening partnership between Hussey and Vijay, Suresh Raina played his best innings of the season scoring an unbeaten 38-ball 73. Chennai went on to make 190/3 in 20 overs. Kolkata lost the wicket of their skipper Gambhir in the first over of the run-chase. Then Manvinder Bisla, who was playing his first game in two weeks, took on the bowlers single-handedly and scored 89 from 48 balls. Batting at three, Jacques Kallis not only scored 69 (49) but also put up a crucial second-wicket stand of 136 runs with Bisla. However, the game swung CSK's way after KKR lost four wickets in as many overs. After the fall of Kallis in the 19th over, KKR needed 16 runs to win from 7 balls. KKR went on to win the game by five wickets with two balls to spare thanks to two consecutive boundaries from Manoj Tiwary in the last over. The Knight Riders secured their maiden IPL title with this win and Bisla won the Man of the Match award.
Suresh Raina finished as Chennai's leading run scorer with 441 runs. Dwayne Bravo lead the bowling tables with 15 wickets.

### Match log

| No. | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Scorecard |
| 1 | 4 April | Mumbai Indians | Chennai | Lost by 8 wickets | Scorecard |
| 2 | 7 April | Deccan Chargers | Visakhapatnam | Won by 74 runs, MoM – Ravindra Jadeja 48 (29) and 5/16 (4 overs) | Scorecard |
| 3 | 10 April | Delhi Daredevils | New Delhi | Lost by 8 wickets | Scorecard |
| 4 | 12 April | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Chennai | Won by 5 wickets, MoM – Francois du Plessis 71 (46) | Scorecard |
| 5 | 14 April | Pune Warriors India | Pune | Lost by 7 wickets | Scorecard |
| 6 | 19 April | Pune Warriors India | Chennai | Won By 13 runs, MoM – Nuwan Kulasekara 2/10 and 2 catches | Scorecard |
| 7 | 21 April | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai | Won by 7 wickets, MoM – Francois du Plessis 73 (52) | Scorecard |
| 8 | 25 April | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Bengaluru | Match Abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain | Scorecard |
| 9 | 28 April | Kings XI Punjab | Chennai | Lost by 7 runs | Scorecard |
| 10 | 30 April | Kolkata Knight Riders | Chennai | Lost by 5 wickets | Scorecard |
| 11 | 4 May | Deccan Chargers | Chennai | Won by 10 runs, MoM – Suresh Raina 32 (24) and 1/5 | Scorecard |
| 12 | 6 May | Mumbai Indians | Mumbai | Lost by 2 wickets | Scorecard |
| 13 | 10 May | Rajasthan Royals | Jaipur | Won by 4 wickets, MoM – Ben Hilfenhaus 2/8 | Scorecard |
| 14 | 12 May | Delhi Daredevils | Chennai | Won by 9 wickets, MoM – Ben Hilfenhaus 3/27 | Scorecard |
| 15 | 14 May | Kolkata Knight Riders | Kolkata | Won by 5 wickets, MoM – Mike Hussey 56 (39) | Scorecard |
| 16 | 17 May | Kings XI Punjab | Dharamsala | Lost by 7 wickets | Scorecard |
| 17 | 23 May | Mumbai Indians (Eliminator) | Bengaluru | Won by 38 runs, MoM – Mahendra Singh Dhoni 53* (20) | Scorecard |
| 18 | 25 May | Delhi Daredevils (Qualifier #2) | Chennai | Won by 86 runs, MoM – Murali Vijay 113 (58) | Scorecard |
| 19 | 27 May | Kolkata Knight Riders (Final) | Chennai | Lost by 5 wickets | Scorecard |
| Overall record: 10–8. Runners-up. Qualified for 2012 Champions League Twenty20 ||||||

### Most runs

| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike rate | Highest Score | 100s | 50s |
| Suresh Raina | 18 | 441 | 25.94 | 135.69 | 73 | 0 | 1 |
| Francois du Plessis | 12 | 398 | 33.16 | 118.84 | 73 | 0 | 3 |
| Dwayne Bravo | 16 | 371 | 46.37 | 140.53 | 48 | 0 | 0 |
| MS Dhoni | 17 | 357 | 29.75 | 128.41 | 51* | 0 | 1 |
| Murali Vijay | 14 | 336 | 25.84 | 125.84 | 113 | 1 | 0 |

### Most wickets

| Player | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy rate | Best Bowling | 4w |
| Dwayne Bravo | 18 | 15 | 30.80 | 8.01 | 2/10 | 0 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 18 | 14 | 30.78 | 6.54 | 3/23 | 0 |
| Ben Hilfenhaus | 9 | 14 | 16.64 | 6.85 | 3/27 | 0 |
| Albie Morkel | 15 | 13 | 29.61 | 7.77 | 3/29 | 0 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 14 | 12 | 22.75 | 7.80 | 5/16 | 1 |

## Champions League Twenty20
### Match log

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Scorecard |
| 14 October | Sydney Sixers | Johannesburg | Lost by 14 runs | Scorecard |
| 16 October | Highveld Lions | Cape Town | Lost by 6 wickets | Scorecard |
| 20 October | Mumbai Indians | Johannesburg | Won by 6 runs, MoM – Ben Hilfenhaus 2/14 (4 overs) | Scorecard |
| 22 October | Yorkshire Carnegie | Durban | Won by 4 wickets, MoM – Subramaniam Badrinath 47 (38) | Scorecard |
| Overall record: 2–2. Eliminated in the group stage. |||||

### Most runs

| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike rate | Highest Score | 100s | 50s |
| Francois du Plessis | 4 | 121 | 30.25 | 147.56 | 52 | 0 | 1 |
| Suresh Raina | 4 | 116 | 29.00 | 134.88 | 57 | 0 | 1 |
| MS Dhoni | 4 | 108 | 27.00 | 142.10 | 35 | 0 | 0 |

### Most wickets

| Player | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy rate | Best Bowling | 4w |
| Albie Morkel | 3 | 5 | 15.00 | 6.52 | 2/12 | 0 |
| Doug Bollinger | 4 | 4 | 24.75 | 6.18 | 2/16 | 0 |
| Ben Hilfenhaus | 4 | 4 | 24.25 | 6.46 | 2/14 | 0 |