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Chennai: The Chennai Super Kings reiterated their desire to retain their championship status in the forthcoming IPL Season 4, here today.

Mr Gurunath Meiyappan, owner of Chennai Super Kings, said: “We have been one of the most consistent sides in the IPL so far. Our focus on the basics has paid us rich dividends and our brand of cricket has won us global admirers.

“Our team has not needed any major changes and our core group remains the same. We have tremendous faith in our boys and under our inspirational captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, we expect them to scale bigger heights.”

The fourth season of the hugely successful IPL tournament will be held from April 8 to May 28. Over the past three years, the Chennai Super Kings have emerged as the most consistent team in the competition. In 2008, they finished runners-up, in 2009 as semi-finalists and lifted the trophy as champions in 2010 in addition to winning the Champions League in South Africa.

Coming close on the heels of the ICC World Cup, the fourth season of the IPL is witnessing heightened excitement. A changed format, two new teams, some shuffling of players and some new players have all contributed to heightened excitement levels.

Chennai Super Kings are amongst the most favoured team to take the title. Ticket sales have been extremely encouraging with all tickets having been sold out for the first match.

The Chennai Super Kings have been constantly evolving and innovating on several fronts. The captain, Dhoni will be figuring in a fresh initiative along with his team mates from the Chennai Super Kings in a comic book series specifically targeting the team’s young fans.

The book will contain 40 pages and is priced at Rs 40 each with an initial print run of 40,000 copies. The book will hit the stands coinciding with the start of the Indian Premier League-4 season.

Mumbai-based advertising company Cartwheel Creative Consultancy Pvt. Ltd is writing the script and producing the series. It has tied up with India Book House for nationwide distribution of the comics.

A completely new range of merchandise is available for fans. This merchandise is available both on the team website, www.chennaisuperkings.com and other popular sites like, e-bay, Home Shop 18, Book My Show and Myntra and in key stores across Tamil Nadu.

This merchandise will also be available for sale during matches at the Chepauk Stadium. This year has seen an infusion of a variety of novel merchandise for the fans with more than 20 items available for sale.

A revamped website has won instant admirers and has everything a fan would want on the team. The interface is easy and quality of content, high.

This year too, the Chennai Super Kings have an impressive list of sponsors. These include, Aircel, Gulf Oil, Amarapali, Reebok, 7-up, Wrigley's, TI Cycles, Bilt, Tilaknagar Industries (Mansion House).

Media partners include The Hindu and Hello FM and F&B Partner - Cafe Coffee Day

Team coach Stephen Fleming, exuded confidence saying: “With most of our players being in action during the ICC World Cup, lack of match practice will not be an issue.

“Playing the best teams in the world and in our home grounds is the best build up any player could hope for. We are quietly confident of our prospects and will play like true champions.

“Our core team remains the same and we look forward to another successful run in this year’s tournament too.”

Mr TS Raghupathy, Executive President, the India Cements Limited, said: “Our fan base has more than tripled post our spectacular success last year. Winning is key now. Expectations of our team are very high.

“We want to win the tournament this year too. Our brand of cricket has won us millions of fans and we hope to increase our fan base even more.”

The Chennai Super Kings team:

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

2. Suresh Raina

3. Murali Vijay

4. Wriddhiman Saha

5. Ravichandran Ashwin

6. Subramaniam Badrinath

7. Joginder Sharma

8. Sudeep Tyagi

9. Abhinav Mukund

10. Anirudha Srikkanth

11. Ganapathi Vignesh

12. K. Vasudevdas

13. Shadab Jakati

14. Vijaykumar Yomahesh

15. Albie Morkel

16. Michael Hussey

17. Dwayne Bravo

18. Doug Bollinger

19. Scott Styris

20. Tim Southee

21. Nuwan Kulasekera

22. Suraj Randiv

23. George Bailey

24. Faf du Plessis

25. Stephen Fleming - Coach

26. Andy Bichel – Bowling Coach

27. Russel – Manager

28. Steve Rixon – Fielding Coach

29. Tommy Simsek – Physio

30. Greg King – Trainer

31. Lakshmi Narayanan – Computer Analyst

32. Rodney Parry – Masseur

33. Gopla Ramanthan – Team Doctor

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Chennai, August 30: The Chennai Super Kings team management felicitated their star bowler Mutthiah Muralitharan on his stupendous achievement of 800 test wickets at a small ceremony here today.

Fittingly, a memento to the great player was handed over by Shri S Venkatraghavan, the great former off-spinner, India captain and retired member of the elite ICC umpire panel.

Chennai Super King players, Laxmipathy Balaji, Subramaniam Badrinath, Murali Vijay and Shadab Jakati were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan, Owner of the Chennai Super Kings said: “The accomplishment of Mutthiah Muralitharan is remarkable. Mutthiah Muralitharan has retired from International Test cricket as one of the most successful off-spin bowlers ever to grace the game.

“His capability to create magic with the ball always had the world and opposing batsmen in a spin. Muralitharan leaves a legacy and a record which will stand for a long time.

“As an individual, Muralitharan is someone who makes the dressing room a very lively place with his infectious energy and enthusiasm. A great ambassador of the game, we are proud to have him as an integral member of our team.”

During the felicitation, a new Chennai Super King player T-shirt with the number 800 was handed over to Mutthiah Muralitharan, who will now play with that number.

Mr. Rakesh Singh, Joint President, Marketing, the India Cements Limited, said: “There is no doubt that Mutthiah Muralitharan’s achievements on the cricket field are incredible. 800 Test wickets is no mean feat, and his continued dominance in world cricket was unbelievable.

“He has brought the same work ethics and spirit to the Chennai Super Kings and we have benefited immensely from it. He has played a stellar role in the three years of IPL and we look forward to more from him.”

Sanjay Manjrekar, Commentator and Television analyst for ESPN STAR SPORTS, spoke on the occasion by congratulating Mutthiah Muralitharan.

He said: “Muralitharan's presence in the Chennai Super Kings camp and in the Airtel Champions League T20 itself will be an ultimate honour given the stature of the tournament as a marquee world club championship event.  

“I feel, this time around, the three Indian clubs will pose a greater threat to all the other participating teams in South Africa starting September 10. I am convinced that cricket fans in Chennai and throughout India will be entertained with a veritable feast of high quality cricketing action."

 The team management was confident of a good showing in South Africa with Mr. VB Chandrasekhar, former India and team Selector saying: “We are confident of a good showing in the Champions League. The presence of Albie Morkel is a huge boost for us. We also have a fair knowledge on the playing conditions in South Africa, having had a good run during the IPL season 2 which was held there. All our players are match fit and raring to go.”

The Champions League will be held from September 10 to 26. Fresh post their success in the IPL Season 3, the Super Kings are determined to post a good showing in the Champions League having narrowly missed out in the last edition.

The Team management announced the beginning of a one week rigorous training camp with the advent of all team members in South Africa from September 5 onwards.

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Chennai: The Chennai Super Kings is hungry to win the title in the third Indian Premier League T20 Cricket tournament to be held between March 13 and April 25. To this end, the team will undergo training this week.

At a Media briefing today, coach Stephen Fleming and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni along with the team management reiterated their desire to win the third edition of the IPL, having come so close in the previous two tournaments.

Dhoni, who arrived here yesterday, said the Super Kings had a good mix of all-rounders that offered him a lot more options in bowling. “We are quite a balanced side and would like to win the trophy this year,” he said.

Fleming, exuded confidence saying: “The fact that we have a fair number of South African and Indian cricketers in our team will stand us in good stead especially considering that they are two top teams in One Day cricket in the World.

“And with Mathew Hayden and Murali, it will be an explosive combination. It’s been an enjoyable experience for me - playing the first year and then coaching. It is a new challenge for me and it is something that I am executing with great confidence. Our core team remains the same and we look to another successful run in this year’s tournament too.”

Team selector VB Chandrasekhar said: “We are looking forward to some good practice sessions over the next few days here in Chennai. I am happy since the majority of the players has been in the thick of action and therefore feel confident going in to the tournament.”

Mr. TS Raghupathy, Executive President, India Cements Limited, said: “Expectations from our team is very high. We want to win the tournament this year. Our brand of cricket has won us millions of fans and we owe them a victory. The nucleus of our team has remained the same and I am sure we will be a formidable team. We are hungry for the title this year.”

Mr Gurunath Meiyappan of the Super Kings said that over the past two seasons, the team has emerged as one of the most consistent teams in the competition. Further recognition of this has been witnessed with the team being ranked by an independent source, as the most valuable team going into the competition, he pointed out.

The third season of the IPL is witnessing heightened excitement. Chennai Super Kings is the most favoured team to take the title. Ticket sales have been extremely encouraging with all tickets having been sold out for the first match.
A promotion held recently for the Chennai Super Kings Fan Club, The Kings Club saw an overwhelming response.

The Chennai Super Kings have been constantly evolving and innovating on several fronts. A first of its kind, the five-year merchandising tie-up with Oceanbed, has seen an infusion of a variety of novel merchandise for the fans. These are being sold through popular retail outlets like Landmark as well as through our website.

A separate stand for the Kings Club members, presence and interactions with players during practice sessions are all initiatives that have established a very strong link between the people of Tamil Nadu and the team.

A revamped website has won instant admirers and has everything a fan would want on the team. The interface is easy and quality of content, high.

This year too, the Chennai Super Kings have an impressive list of sponsors.

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Chennai: The Chennai Super Kings team and management staff will be leaving for South Africa on Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

The team will head out to Kingsmead in Durban, their practice base, where they will have a camp for eight days before moving to Cape Town for the opening ceremony and their first match of the tournament.

A major part of the team has been hard at practice in Chennai over the last 10 days and with the arrival of their International stars, the team presents a balanced look as they leave to create history in South Africa.

At Durban, the team plans to have a couple of practice matches as their final preparation before heading into the tournament.


Announcing this here today, team selector Mr. V. B. Chandrasekhar said: “We have had a good practice session over the last few days here in Chennai. I am happy with the progress that the team has made and feel confident going in to the tournament.


“With the wickets and weather conditions completely different in South Africa, the challenges that face us are formidable and therefore the 10 days we get to acclimatize ourselves will prove to be invaluable.”


Team Coach, Stephen Fleming, exuded confidence saying: “The fact that we have a fair number of South African cricketers in our team will hold us in good stead. Their inputs and feedback to the rest of the players will prove to be invaluable.


“Coaching is a new challenge for me and it is something that I am looking forward to with great confidence. Our core team remains the same and we look to another successful run in this year’s tournament too.”


Mr. TS Raghupathy, Executive President, the India Cements Limited, said: “We are sure of replicating the success of the first edition. We have a well rounded team now and our mix of overseas and local players will be a formidable team. We are hungry for success and the team is committed to winning the tournament this time around.”

Fans in South Africa will see the familiar sight of Ace percussionist Sivamani at all the matches of the Chennai Super Kings.


Grounds will also be awash with the signature yellow colors of the Chennai Super Kings as plans are afoot for on ground promotions designed to bring in fans to cheer their Super Kings.


The Chennai Super Kings carry with them the good wishes of the cricket loving public in India, who are confident that the team which lost a last ball thriller in Mumbai last year, will bring home the trophy this year.