Best Chennai Super Kings (CSK) XI that played for India at the international level

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been one of the iconic teams of the IPL. They’ve also been one of the most successful ones as well. They’ve won three titles which is the second-most in the history of the IPL but they’ve also played two seasons less than everyone else.

It’s the players and the consistency of the players that has driven the team and that has defined their success. Not only the overseas players, but it has also largely been the Indian core that has set the platform and have performed really well. And there have been a lot of CSK players who have gone on to represent India as well.

Thus, here we look at a CSK XI that has played for India:

Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay may have played for three different IPL teams but he is recognised as a CSK player. All his success in the IPL has also come with CSK. The opening batsman played crucial roles in the 2010 and 2011 title-wins as well. Overall, he has scored 1676 runs in the yellow jersey which is the fourth-most and is still a part of the CSK squad.

As far as international cricket is concerned, Vijay never got a consistent run for the first few years. He made his Test debut in 2008 but he was deemed as an injury-replacement. The Tamil Nadu opener came into the side only when either of Virender Sehwag or Gautam Gambhir were out injured.

However, it all changed once those two started fading away. Vijay became India’s premier Test opener and did well on the overseas tours of South Africa, England and Australia between late 2013 and early 2015. He continued to be India’s first-choice Test opener till the England tour last year before everything went downhill for the Chennai-born batsman. He’s amassed 3982 runs in the longest format. He has even played ODIs and T20Is (a total of 26 combined) but never made an impact.