Chennai Super Kings played their first ever match in the IPL against Kings XI Punjab in 2008 and out of the 11 players who took the field for CSK in that game, only two of them are still playing for them.
So, where are the remaining 9 players who represented CSK in their first ever IPL match? Let’s find out –
#Openers (Parthiv Patel, Matthew Hayden)
While Matthew Hayden retired from the game a decade back and is a television commentator these days, Parthiv Patel is still playing and is currently a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad in the IPL.
Parthiv is going to play for RCB in the upcoming IPL as well and is most likely to open the batting for them.
#Middle Order (MS Dhoni, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath)
MS Dhoni was the captain of CSK in their first IPL game and had batted at no. 3, however he was dismissed cheaply at the score of just 2 runs. Dhoni is still the captain of CSK 12 years down the line, having guided the team to as many as 3 IPL titles.
Michael Hussey was CSK’s first ever centurion in the IPL. He had batted at no. 4 in the game against Kings XI Punjab and had scored 116 runs off just 54 balls with 8 fours and 9 sixes. Hussey is the batting coach of CSK these days.
Suresh Raina was an emerging player back in 2008 and was a vital part of Indian white ball squads as well, apart from CSK. However, Raina has now lost his place in the Indian squad and currently plays only for CSK. The southpaw had batted at no. 5 in CSK’s first ever game against KXIP, but he is likely to hold the no. 3 position for the men in yellow in the upcoming IPL.
Subramaniam Badrinath was the sheet anchor in CSK’s squad in the first season of the IPL. He was a floater in the batting order and would be promoted up the order only if the team had lost early wickets. Badrinath went on to have an illustrious career for CSK, but he is now retired and currently writes cricketing columns. He is a part-time commentator as well.
#All-rounders (Jacob Oram, Joginder Sharma)
Jacob Oram was slotted at no. 7 in CSK’s first ever XI. The kiwi left-hander had the capability to hit the big shots down the order and he was good enough to make a difference with his seam bowling as well.
Oram, however, didn’t play for CSK for a long period of time as he was already in the latter stages of his career when the IPL began. Oram is currently the bowling coach of New Zealand women’s cricket team.
Joginder Sharma was another all-rounder in the CSK squad in IPL 2008. He also played as a finisher and bowled a bit of seam-up. It was, however, the first and last season of IPL where Joginder represented CSK. He is currently the Deputy Superintendent of Police in the state of Haryana.
#Bowlers (Manpreet Gony, Palani Amarnath, Muttiah Muralitharan)
Manpreet Gony was a young sensation in the first IPL who caught everyone’s eye as he had got decent pace and he could hit the deck fairly hard.
Gony, on the back of his IPL performances, got an Inda call-up as well. But, his India career was really short as he couldn’t prove himself at the international level. Gony features in the T20 leagues across the globe these days. He also featured in the Global T20 league in Canada last year.
Palani Amarnath was another fast bowler who was a part of CSK’s playing XI in their first game against KXIP. Amarnath retired from first class cricket long back, but he played for Tamil Nadu in white ball cricket until very recently.
Muttiah Muralitharan, who was the lone specialist spinner for CSK in their first ever playing XI, also bid adieu to the game long time back and he is currently the bowling coach of another IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.
