Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are the two most successful franchises of the Indian Premie League, both teams sharing 9 out of the total 14 titles in the IPL.
Their rivalry has grown over the years with fans getting passionate at the knock of every encounter, their clash billed as the ‘El Clásico’ of cricket of the IPL. The CSK-MI rivalry, though, is not yet at the heated levels of say, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Hence, it hasn’t got the fans all riled up when some players have featured for both the teams!
Here are 5 players who have played for both CSK and MI:
Ambati Rayudu
That Ambati Rayudu has played all his IPL career- from 2010 – for the two best IPL franchises tells you how good and in-demand he has been. However, Rayudu, who has batted at positions from opening to number 8, has been an underrated star, but both MI and CSK have valued his contributions to the team.
He’s won 3 IPL titles with MI (2013, 2015, 2017) and with CSK (), playing a crucial role in all those wins. He was with MI from 2010 to 2017 and has been with CSK since 2018, overall scoring a total of 4817 runs in 187 matches at 29.
Harbhajan Singh
Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh donned the MI jersey from 2008 to 2017 – winning three titles there – and then the yellow CSK jersey for the next two seasons in 2018 – when CSK won their third title – and 2019; he pulled out of the 2020 season. Harbhajan was with KKR in 2021 after which he announced his retirement.
Bhajji took a staggering 127 wickets for MI and was a regular for the franchise throughout his time there; he bagged 23 wickets in two seasons at CSK where Dhoni used him sparingly.
Dwayne Bravo
With 183 wickets, Dwayne Bravo is IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker. While he made his name as one of the best death bowlers in the world during his time at CSK, Bravo started his IPL journey with Mumbai Indians.
He was at MI for the first three seasons in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Then CSK bought him in 2011 and barring the two years in 2016 and 2017 when the franchise was banned and Bravo played for Gujarat Lions, the all-rounder has been with the Yellow Army, part of their last three title wins. He has snared 140 wickets for the Super Kings.
Piyush Chawla
Piyush Chawla was a star spinner for Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders for the first 10 seasons. Then in his next two IPL season, he got to play for the two most successful franchises – CSK in 2020 and MI in 2021.
However, he didn’t have a great time with the ball for either of the two seasons – picking 6 wickets in 7 games for CSK and 1 wicket in 1 match for MI while leaking more than 9 runs an over for both – and didn’t get any buyer at the IPL 2022 mega-auction. Nonetheless, with 157 wickets to his name, Piyush Chawla is currently the fifth-highest wicket-taker in the IPL history.
Karn Sharma
Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Karn Sharma got to be hailed as the lucky charm for franchises in the IPL. He has won three titles with three different teams in three consecutive years: SRH in 2016; MI in 2017; CSK in 2018 and featured in two finals. Karn doesn’t really have any outstanding numbers – 59 wickets in 58 IPL matches – but captains look him as an X-factor.
