Chennai Super Kings have been the most triumphant team throughout the whole history of Indian Premier League. Even though the team made its final appearance in the very first season and within 14 years grabbed five crowns, it has traveled a long road since then. CSK has always been a part of the playoffs during 12 out of their 16 seasons and that is a record.
The question arises as to what makes this team generate so much success? After analyzing the situation, it is found that the most important and strongest reasons are the batting strength and the opening duo. Apart from that, CSK have had very good luck in their batting department as they have had very good openers and match-winners. That is precisely why there are so many big partnerships for Chennai recorded in IPL. Now is the time to take a look at the top ten partnerships of CSK in IPL.
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway (182) vs SRH in 2022
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway’s partnership at the top of the order is a key factor in the success of CSK. Even though Conway is going to miss the 2024 season, this pair has made the highest stand which is also the highest opening partnership for CSK in the IPL. They were the ones to put together 182 runs against SRH in 2022, and that was in Pune. CSK ended up with 202 runs for 2 wickets. Gaikwad’s score was 99 off 57 and Conway’s was 85 not out off 55. The total run scored by SRH in reply was 189 and hence they lost by 13 runs.
Match Stats:-
Batter
Dismissal
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Ruturaj Gaikwad
c Bhuvneshwar b T Natarajan
99
57
6
6
173.68
Devon Conway
not out
85
55
8
4
154.55
MS Dhoni (c & wk)
c Umran Malik b T Natarajan
8
7
1
0
114.29
Ravindra Jadeja
not out
1
1
0
0
100.00
Extras
9 (b 0, lb 6, w 3, nb 0, p 0)
Total
202/2 (20 Overs, RR: 10.1)
2. Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis (181*) vs Kings XI in 2020
The phrase ‘ten wickets win and chasing a large total’ implies a very strong statement and one such case occurred in 2020. The Kings XI Punjab (called Punjab Kings now) was CSK’s opponent and that was the 22nd match in Dubai. First, Punjab played and made a difficult target of 178 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Batting in the second inning was an absolute delight of Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis. Watson (83 off 53) and Du Plessis (87 off 53) shared a beautiful partnership of 181 in just 17.4 overs and that was the reason for victory by ten wickets. It is one of the largest opening stands when a team wins
Match Stats:-
Batter
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Shane Watson (not out)
83
53
11
3
156.60
Faf du Plessis (not out)
87
53
11
1
164.15
Type
Details
Extras
11 (b 0, lb 0, w 11, nb 0, p 0)
Total
181/0 (17.4 Overs, RR: 10.25)
3. Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube (165) vs RCB in 2022
The highest partnership for the third wicket in IPL history belongs to Chennai Super Kings. The incident took place in 2022 against RCB at the DY Patil Stadium where Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube participated. The duo narrowly escaped a close call with the three-figure mark and made a stunning contribution of 165 runs in just over an hour and 12 minutes. Uthappa was the top scorer with 88 runs off 50 balls and Dube was the next with an unbeaten 95 runs off 46 balls. CSK scored a gigantic total of 216/4, and RCB at 193/9, and thus the victory margin was 23 runs.
Match Stats:-
Batter
Dismissal
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Ruturaj Gaikwad
lbw b Hazlewood
17
16
3
0
106.25
Uthappa
c Kohli b W Hasaranga
88
50
4
9
176.00
Moeen
run out (Prabhudessai/Karthik)
3
8
0
0
37.50
Shivam Dube
not out
95
46
5
8
206.52
Ravindra Jadeja (c)
c Anuj Rawat b W Hasaranga
0
1
0
0
0.00
Dhoni (wk)
not out
0
0
0
0
0.00
Type
Details
Extras
13 (b 4, lb 2, w 6, nb 1, p 0)
Total
216-4 (20 Overs, RR: 10.8)
4. Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey (159) vs RCB in 2011
Murali Vijay with Mike Hussey was CSK’s fourth-best partnership, and it was acknowledged in a contest against Royal Challengers Bangalore during the season’s 2011 finals. The opening pair was really supportive for CSK as it was their first time winning the IPL trophy. The two batters made 159 runs in just 14.5 overs, with Vijay scoring 95 runs off 52 balls and Hussey scoring 63 runs off 45 balls. Meanwhile, Chennai set the total of 205/5. RCB managed to score only 147 runs and lost wickets at the rate of 8, so CSK’s win was by 58 runs, thus becoming the champions.
Match Stats:-
Batter
Dismissal
R
B
4s
6s
SR
Michael Hussey
c A Mithun b Syed Mohammad
63
45
3
3
140.00
Murali Vijay
c D Vettori b S Aravind
95
52
4
6
182.69
MS Dhoni
c V Kohli b S Aravind
22
13
0
2
169.23
Suresh Raina
b C Gayle
8
5
0
1
160.00
Albie Morkel
c V Kohli b C Gayle
2
4
0
0
50.00
S Badrinath
not out
0
0
0
0
0.00
Dwayne Bravo
not out
6
1
0
1
600.00
Type
Details
Extras
9 (b 0, lb 7, w 2, nb 0, p 0)
Total
205-5 (20 Overs, RR: 10.25)
5. Murali Vijay and Albie Morkel (152) vs RR in 2010
The IPL third wicket stand was the fifth-highest partnership of the Chennai innings. It was against Rajasthan Royals during the 2010 tournament held in Chennai. After the toss, CSK chose to bat first and ended up reaching their highest IPL total of 246 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. Murali Vijay was in tremendous form and went on to score a double century when he and Albie Morkel (62 off 34) together totaled 152 runs for the third wicket off just 66 balls. RR finished their innings 223/5 and lost the match by 23 runs.
