# 2009 Chennai Super Kings season

Chennai Super Kings were one of the eight teams that took part in the 2009 Indian Premier League. They were captained by Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the second season in succession.

## Background

Chennai Super Kings had finished as runners-up in the 2008 season of IPL. They had qualified for the 2008 CLT20, but the tournament was cancelled in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

## Pre-season player signings

The Super Kings bought English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for $1.55 million at the 2009 auction making him the highest-paid IPL cricketer along with English teammate Kevin Pietersen who was bought for the same amount by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Apart from Flintoff, the Chennai Super Kings also bought Murali Vijay, Thilan Thushara and George Bailey. Stephen Fleming, who had decided to retire from all forms of the game after the first season of the IPL, took over as the coach of the Super Kings team from Kepler Wessels. Their batting department was further weakened as Michael Hussey decided to skip the season in order to focus on international cricket ahead of the Ashes.

## Squad

Players with international caps before the start of the 2009 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 22) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | Vice-captain |
| 08 | Murali Vijay | India | (1984-04-01)1 April 1984 (aged 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 10 | George Bailey | Australia | (1982-09-07)7 September 1982 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas |
| 12 | Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan | India | (1981-12-03)3 December 1981 (aged 27) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Player withdrew from the tournament. |
| 28 | Matthew Hayden | Australia | (1971-10-29)29 October 1971 (aged 37) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas |
| 33 | Subramaniam Badrinath | India | (1980-08-30)30 August 1980 (aged 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 42 | Arun Karthik | India | (1986-02-15)15 February 1986 (aged 23) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| All-rounders |||||||
| 11 | Andrew Flintoff | England | (1977-12-06)6 December 1977 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Overseas. Player withdrew from the tournament. |
| 24 | Jacob Oram | New Zealand | (1978-07-28)28 July 1978 (aged 30) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Overseas |
| 81 | Albie Morkel | South Africa | (1981-06-10)10 June 1981 (aged 27) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Overseas |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| 07 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | India | (1981-07-07)7 July 1981 (aged 27) | Right-handed | | Captain |
| 09 | Parthiv Patel | India | (1985-03-09)9 March 1985 (aged 24) | Left-handed | – | |
| Bowlers |||||||
| 08 | Muttiah Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | (1971-04-17)17 April 1971 (aged 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Overseas |
| 11 | Lakshmipathy Balaji | India | (1981-08-27)27 August 1981 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| 13 | Joginder Sharma | India | (1983-10-23)23 October 1983 (aged 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| 14 | Ravichandran Ashwin | India | (1986-09-17)17 September 1986 (aged 22) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 16 | Makhaya Ntini | South Africa | (1977-07-06)6 July 1977 (aged 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Overseas |
| 17 | Sudeep Tyagi | India | (1987-09-19)19 September 1987 (aged 21) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| 21 | Palani Amarnath | India | (1982-06-01)1 June 1982 (aged 26) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| 25 | Shadab Jakati | India | (1980-11-27)27 November 1980 (aged 28) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| 76 | Manpreet Gony | India | (1984-01-04)4 January 1984 (aged 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| 97 | Thilan Thushara | Sri Lanka | (1981-03-01)1 March 1981 (aged 28) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | |
| | Viraj Kadbe | India | (1989-11-19)19 November 1989 (aged 19) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |

## Indian Premier League

The Chennai Super Kings were defeated in their first game of the tournament by the Mumbai Indians by 19 runs. Mumbai skipper Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten half-century and fast bowler Lasith Malinga picked up 3/15 in 4 overs. The Super Kings defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next game by 92 runs, thanks to Matthew Hayden's 65 (35). CSK, however, lost against the Delhi Daredevils by 9 runs at Durban, where Delhi batsman AB de Villiers scored the first century of the season. Hayden, once again starred with the bat as he scored 57 off 27 balls in the same match. After an abandoned game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Cape Town, CSK lost to the Deccan Chargers by 6 wickets, giving the latter their fourth consecutive win of the season. The Super Kings then returned to form by winning their next five games. Riding on Suresh Raina's 98 (55), Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals by 38 runs at SuperSport Park in Centurion. In the next match against the Delhi Daredevils, left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati impressed with figures of 4/24 as he picked up the crucial wickets of Warner, Dilshan and Dinesh Karthik, giving his team an 18-run victory. At East London, the Super Kings beat Deccan Chargers by 78 runs, with skipper MS Dhoni scoring 58* and spinner Jakati taking 4/22 in 4 overs. They won their next game against Kings XI Punjab by 12 runs in an 18-overs-a-side match. CSK opener Matthew Hayden top-scored with 89 (58), a knock that overpowered half-centuries from KXIP's Yuvraj Singh and Simon Katich. With Subramaniam Badrinath scoring an unbeaten fifty, Chennai cruised to their fifth consecutive win, by beating Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets. Their winning streak came to an end against the Royal Challengers in a low-scoring game at Durban where RCB won the match by two wickets with two balls to spare after Chennai were bundled out for 129 in the first innings. The Super Kings were able to beat the Mumbai Indians at Port Elizabeth by 7 wickets, thanks once again to Hayden who scored another half-century. Despite scoring 188/3 in 20 overs, the Super Kings went down on the last ball of the match to Kolkata Knight Riders, who were helped by fifties from Brendon McCullum and Brad Hodge. In their last league match, the Chennai Super Kings successfully defended a score of 116/9 against Kings XI Punjab. This still remains the record for the lowest successfully defended total in the history of IPL. This win also ended Punjab's chances of reaching the semi-finals.
The Super Kings finished with 17 points from 14 matches and earned a second place at the league table. At the semi-finals, the Super Kings met the Royal Challengers Bangalore who beat them by 6 wickets. CSK put up 146 on the board despite getting a brisk start from the openers. The Challengers chased down the total with 7 balls to spare after Manish Pandey and Rahul Dravid set the platform for the run-chase with scores of 48 and 44 respectively. Matthew Hayden of CSK, who scored 572 runs in 12 innings with 5 half-centuries at an average of 52 and strike-rate of 145, won the Orange Cap for the leading run-scorer of the season. He was also adjudged Player of the Tournament.

### Season standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
| 1 | Delhi Daredevils | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0.311 |
| 2 | Chennai Super Kings | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 0.951 |
| 3 | Royal Challengers Bangalore (R) | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | −0.191 |
| 4 | Deccan Chargers (C) | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.203 |
| 5 | Kings XI Punjab | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | −0.483 |
| 6 | Rajasthan Royals | 14 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 13 | −0.352 |
| 7 | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 0.297 |
| 8 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 14 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 7 | −0.789 |
    (C) = Eventual champion; (R) = Runner-up.
    Winner, runner-up and best-performing semi-finalist in the group stage qualify for the 2009 Champions League Twenty20.

### Match log

| No | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Scorecard |
| 1 | 18 April | Mumbai Indians | Cape Town | Lost by 19 runs | Scorecard |
| 2 | 20 April | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Port Elizabeth | Won by 92 runs, MoM – Muttiah Muralitharan 3/11 | Scorecard |
| 3 | 23 April | Delhi Daredevils | Durban | Lost by 9 runs | Scorecard |
| 4 | 25 April | Kolkata Knight Riders | Cape Town | Match Abandoned without a ball bowled | Scorecard |
| 5 | 27 April | Deccan Chargers | Durban | Lost by 6 wickets | Scorecard |
| 6 | 30 April | Rajasthan Royals | Centurion | Won by 38 runs, MoM – Suresh Raina 98 (55) | Scorecard |
| 7 | 2 May | Delhi Daredevils | Johannesburg | Won by 18 runs, MoM – Shadab Jakati 4/24 | Scorecard |
| 8 | 4 May | Deccan Chargers | East London | Won by 78 runs, MoM – Mahendra Singh Dhoni 58* (37) | Scorecard |
| 9 | 7 May | Kings XI Punjab | Centurion | Won by 12 runs (D/L method), MoM – Matthew Hayden 89 (58) | Scorecard |
| 10 | 9 May | Rajasthan Royals | Kimberley | Won by 7 wickets, MoM – S. Badrinath 59* (41) | Scorecard |
| 11 | 14 May | Royal Challengers Bangalore | Durban | Lost by 2 wickets | Scorecard |
| 12 | 16 May | Mumbai Indians | Port Elizabeth | Won by 7 wickets, MoM – Matthew Hayden 60 (57) | Scorecard |
| 13 | 18 May | Kolkata Knight Riders | Centurion | Lost by 7 wickets | Scorecard |
| 14 | 20 May | Kings XI Punjab | Durban | Won by 24 runs, MoM – Muttiah Muralitharan 2/8 | Scorecard |
| 15 | 23 May | Royal Challengers Bangalore (semi-final) | Johannesburg | Lost by 6 wickets | Scorecard |
| Overall record: 8–6. Failed to make finals, ending fourth. ||||||

### Most runs

| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike rate | Highest Score | 100s | 50s |
| Matthew Hayden | 12 | 572 | 52.00 | 144.81 | 89 | 0 | 5 |
| Suresh Raina | 14 | 434 | 31.00 | 140.90 | 98 | 0 | 2 |
| MS Dhoni | 13 | 332 | 41.50 | 127.20 | 58* | 0 | 2 |
| Subramaniam Badrinath | 11 | 177 | 19.66 | 107.92 | 59* | 0 | 1 |
| Parthiv Patel | 9 | 142 | 15.77 | 112.69 | 36 | 0 | 0 |

### Most wickets

| Player | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy rate | Best Bowling | 4w |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | 13 | 14 | 18.64 | 5.22 | 3/11 | 0 |
| Shadab Jakati | 8 | 13 | 16.69 | 7.48 | 4/22 | 2 |
| Lakshmipathy Balaji | 13 | 13 | 24.30 | 8.46 | 4/21 | 1 |
| Albie Morkel | 12 | 13 | 25.23 | 8.20 | 2/13 | 0 |
| Suresh Raina | 10 | 7 | 23.42 | 5.92 | 2/17 | 0 |