IPL: Number of matches played by Chennai Super Kings players for Team India

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will enter in its new decade this year as one of its most popular sides Chennai Super Kings is all set to make its comeback after a gap of two years. The franchise was suspended over its alleged involvement in the spot-fixing saga which hit the tournament in 2013. Barring the only glitch, CSK has been the most successful team in the history of the IPL. They are the only side to have qualified for the playoffs (or knockouts) in every edition they’ve played.

Over the years, it has become a trend that the best performers during the course of the league make their way into the Indian side. While MS Dhoni was at the helm of the national team, many of the players from CSK managed to don the blue jersey at the highest level. While the performances at the domestic level are still given the nod, indirectly the selectors tend towards picking the players who shone in the IPL.

Here we look at the number of matches played by the Chennai Super Kings players for Team India since 2013 of the cash-rich T20 league:

MS Dhoni was time and again accused of picking the players from his IPL side for Team India when he was leading the national side. The likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina and R Ashwin were the regular members of Team India during the period. CSK players featured for Team India in as many as 30 and 35 matches in 2013 and 2014 respectively. However, the number went down in 2015 drastically as the players from CSK only played 16 matches wearing India jersey.

CSK youngsters who made most of the opportunity

While the youngsters like Mohit Sharma and Jadeja made their way to the national side purely based on the performances in the IPL, they played almost every match in 2014. According to the stats provided by Business Standard,  the left-arm spinner featured in 7 series in that year for India playing across formats. Mohit was only preferred in the limited overs set up and went on to play 26 ODIs and 8 T20Is.

It would be wrong to say that these players stayed in the team without performing. The statistics prove that they grabbed the opportunity with both the hands. Mohit Sharma‘s back of the hand slower balls were the most effective during the death overs as scalped 31 wickets in the limited overs format and conceded runs at the economy of only 5.45 when the rules were heavily stacked in the favour of batsmen. Jadeja was the lynchpin of the Indian team until Champions Trophy last year and still is the vital cog of the Test team.

CSK player to watch out for this year

Shardul Thakur recently played for India during their long tour to South Africa and performed decently. He will be playing under MS Dhoni for CSK this year in the IPL and will have an opportunity to seal his place in the Indian team for the upcoming World Cup. Though Mahi is no more the skipper of the national side, his suggestions will never be overlooked by Virat Kohli. Thakur will only need to showcase his talent whenever he gets the opportunity to play and he will continue to don the Indian jersey for long

Table: Matches played by CSK players for the Indian team (year-wise)

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