Thus reads Chennai Super Kings' record across the 1st 4 seasons of the IPL. They have been the steadiest and successful team in the league by far, 4 the most settled side as well, after retain most of their squad in last year's shuffle.
That they have a settled line-up was reflect in the 2012 auction, when they were willing to spend their entire purse on a single acquirement: Ravindra Jadeja. They were involved in a fierce bidding war for Jadeja with Deccan Chargers, and lastly beat them in the tie-breaker. Even so, Super Kings cannot afford any contentment and Coach Stephen Fleming knows it. There is a fine line between final 1st and indeed missing out on the finals, he said in an interview on the franchise's website. They have stride that line on several occasion - in 2008 and 2010 Super Kings faced a must-win situation in their final league game to make the semis, while 2011 they almost complicated things for themselves by delay their launch till the very last instant in a stiff chase in the play-off against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In 2011 the batting was classically solid, with MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, S Badrinath and M Vijay all aggregate in the district of 400 runs. R Ashwin, expectedly, led the team's bowling chart with 20 wickets at 19.40 apiece. Super Kings have a weakness, though; it is the fast-bowling front. Their opponent have often got off to leaflet against the quicks, before Dhoni has practical the squeeze and invariably turned the match with the spinners. On that count, they will be happy to the services of Australia's Ben Hilfenhaus this time around. When he arrive from the West Indies, he form a solid company with Doug Bollinger, Super Kings' pace organize over the last 2 seasons.
Off the field, Super Kings have been at the center of several contentious issues - include a possible conflict of interest with BCCI president N Srinivasan also managing India cement, the owners of Super Kings - but their on-field concert has been strong sufficient to steal the headlines and deflect negative advertising.
