Chennai Super Kings has been one of the most iconic T20 teams in the world since the inception of IPL in 2008. The fan following and the love which they have received could also be because their captain, MS Dhoni, one of the most renowned and appreciated cricketers around the globe. 

Until Mumbai Indians won their fourth and fifth IPL title, Chennai was the most successful team with title wins in 2010, 2011, and 2018. However, the franchise, which is owned by India Cements, remains one of the strongest sides in the Indian Premier League and has some incredible records.

Here are 5 unbreakable records of CSK

1. Winning the IPL and CL T20 in the same year, followed by another IPL trophy

After finishing as the runners-up in the inaugural season, followed by a semi-final finish in the 2009 season of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings were looking to roar past everyone and win the tournament. As it turned out, in a space of a single year, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings won three titles, one of which wasn’t actually an IPL season. 

It all started in 2010 when IPL returned to India after a break in 2009, a season that was the first to be held entirely outside the country. After performing well in the competition, CSK was in a position where they had to win their final league match to qualify for the semi-finals. MS Dhoni played an innings of the ages to guide his team into the knockout stages. And the rest is history. 

Later the same year, the best teams of the T20 competitions across the globe arrived in South Africa to play the Champions League T20. Chennai proved to be the champions in that tournament as well. Since then, only Mumbai Indians have been able to replicate this winning the double in 2013, but CSK went further and also won the 2011 season of the IPL. With the CL T20 being defunct now, it is unlikely that any other team would be able to replicate this feat.

2. 10 consecutive Playoffs qualifications

MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings team has several chapters of success and glory. In 2008, when the eight original teams were revealed, only Jaipur and Chennai teams didn’t have an icon player among them. Chennai made the highest bid for any player in the auction when they bought Dhoni for INR 6 crores (not adjusted as per inflation).

They built a team around him and over the years, we have seen CSK making just minor changes here and there and continuing their successful journey. What is quite remarkable is the number of times we have seen them in the finals or just in the last four. Between 2008 and 2020, Chennai played 10 seasons (missed 2016 and 2017 due to ban) and managed to qualify for the Playoffs each and every time. 

No team in the league, not even Mumbai Indians, who have the most number of titles to their name, have managed to qualify for the Playoffs so many times. Mumbai will definitely play their 10th playoff, but they might not be able to make it 10 seasons in a row. This record was finally broken when they failed to qualify for the playoffs of 2020. However, they came back strongly in the 2021 season and won five of their seven matches. 

3. The lowest successful score defended in IPL 

In a highly competitive league such as the Indian Premier League, teams generally don’t get away with a win without scoring even at a run-a-ball in the first innings of the match. Having said that, back in the day, Chennai Super Kings pulled off quite an amazing victory when they defended a score of 116 runs. 

This story is from the IPL 2009 when Chennai was playing Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Durban. Batting first, Chennai found it really difficult to get runs quickly. Parthiv Patel, who opened the batting for Chennai managed a 23-ball 32, after which CSK’s back almost broke. Some tight bowling meant Dhoni’s men had only 116 in the bag. 

However, on a slow surface, Dhoni used his spinners quite magnificently and pulled this victory. Ravichandran Ashwin, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Suresh Raina bowled 12 overs together, ending with figures of 2 for 13, 2 for 8, and 2 for 17. This allowed Chennai to restrict Punjab for only 92 runs in their 20 overs. This, to date, remains as the lowest score ever defended. With the IPL being played on more and more batting-friendly surfaces, it is unlikely that this record will be broken.

4. Most wickets in a season by any bowler 

In 2013, when Dwayne Bravo arrived at the Indian Premier League, he was already the West Indies ODI captain, but his reputation at the Chennai Super Kings team was slightly different from what he had to do for his national team. And MS Dhoni used him more as a death bowler in the format. 

It should be noted that Bravo was a genuine all-rounder but bowlers like him, with a lot of variations, started getting successful only when batsmen would try to attack them. It was quite simple, he could change his pace and deceive the batsmen, could bowl a yorker, a variation of a slower yorker, and a couple of types of cutters. He even had a short ball to intimidate the bowlers. 

Dhoni knew all these things made him a brilliant option as a death bowler. More importantly, Bravo was a clever bowler who knew how to use these variations. He ended with 32 wickets in the season, most ever by a bowler ever in a season. He was the first to cross the barrier of 30 wickets as well and remained the only one until Kagiso Rabada took 30 scalps in 2020. However, it seems quite improbable to break his record now. 

5. Most matches led by a single captain

As Chennai Super Kings has ever had only one captain, MS Dhoni has emerged as quite an enigma as far as the league is concerned. In the IPL alone, Dhoni has led Chennai Super Kings 181 matches, most by any single player leading a single franchise. There are some who are chasing him, but are way behind him. 

There is Virat Kohli, who has captained Royal Challengers Bangalore 132 times in the tournament. On the other hand, there is Rohit Sharma, who has played 123 times as the captain of the Mumbai Indians. These are two players who could potentially break the record set by the former Indian captain. 

However, there is skepticism around that as well. Dhoni might play another season after this. By the time he finishes and hangs up his boots, he might have led CSK way too many times for these two players to get ahead of him.