CSK returned to the IPL in 2018 after a two-year ban, and Captain M.S. Dhoni went against conventional wisdom and decided to focus on the elders “who are there”. The CSK captain led the team to his fourth 2021 IPL title but has yet to announce his retirement from the IPL. Apart from Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings will retain all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and former Ruturaj Gaikwad, who played critical roles in CSK’s 2021 Indian Premier League victory. Chennai Super Kings kept Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the IPL auction in 2022 INR 16 crore, INR 12 crore MS Dhoni, INR 8 crore Moeen Ali and INR 6 crore Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The team also bought Sri Lankan cricketer Maheesh Theekshana at the IPL 2022 auction, but the signing caused quite a stir on social media.
Under the terms, team management can retain three Indian players and one foreigner, or two Indian players and two foreigners. Most franchises will follow a no-four-player strategy, which can overload their packs during big auctions. Regarding his possible reservations, Dhoni said after the IPL 2021 final that the priority during the IPL 2022 mega auction would be to ensure that the core of the team can be maintained in the long term. Suresh Raina is the leading man missing from the CSK squad as they did not buy him this year.
The Chennai franchise was taken over by a separate organisation called Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd. after the Supreme Court of India overturned a controversial amendment to clause 6.2.4 of the BCCI constitution that allowed council officers to have a commercial interest in IPL and Champions League Twenty20 on January 22, 2015. In 2018, Chennai Super Kings managed to play a lone home game against Kolkata Knight Riders due to members of some fringe political parties organising protests outside the stadium and in different parts of Chennai demanding the IPL. The matches will be moved outside the city until the Supreme Court of India establishes the Kaveri Board of Management (CMB).
The Super Kings also became the first team to beat an opponent (Sunrisers Hyderabad) four times in a season. The Super Kings have won the IPL championship four times (2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021) and have the highest match-win percentage (59.83%) of any IPL team. While the Punjab Kings have fielded some of the best teams in the sport, their team is not as strong as it looks on paper. The crowned Punjab Kings have stayed true to its logo for most IPL.
As BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said, the next season of the Indian Premier League will be held in India, and the Chennai Super Kings believe that the British know-it-all Moeen Ali can be the right man for Chennai’s slow turn to the wicket Players.
