Owner: India Cements

Franchise fee: $91 million

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

2008 Performance: Runners-up

Most expensive players: Andrew Flintoff - USD $ 1.55 million; Mahendra Singh Dhoni - USD $1.5 million

The Chennai Super Kings created history of sorts last year when they outbid competitors to have Mahendra Singh Dhoni in their ranks. The second highest paid star took the Chennai Super Kings to the final of the championship last season where they were upstaged by the underdogs Rajasthan Royals. Owned by India Cements, the franchise has star value in former cricketer Kris Srikkanth and South Indian actors Vijay and Nayantara as brand ambassadors.

Coached by former Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming, the team makes up for the absence of an Icon Player by having stalwarts like Matthew Hayden, Andrew Flintoff, Michael Hussey, Jacob Oram, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Muttiah Muralidharan. They were a pretty solid outfit last year. The batting was impressive with Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey in full form. They have strengthened it this year with the inclusion of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, though only for the first half. With four world class all rounders in their ranks, it would be interesting to see which four foreigners play. If Flintoff goes in with Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram and Matthew Hayden, we might see Muralitharan and Tushara sit out.

Full squad:

International players: Muttaih Muralitharan and Thilhan Thushara (Sri Lanka), George Bailey, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey (Australia), Albie Morkel and Makhaya Ntini (South Africa), Jacob Oram and Stephen Fleming (Player cum Coach) (New Zealand) and Andrew Flintoff (England)

Indian players: MS Dhoni, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Suresh Raina, L. Balaji, M. Vijay, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Singh Gony, R Ashwin, Sudeep Tyagi Abhinav Mukund, Viraj Kadbe, Shadab Jakati, Aniruddh Srikanth, Vidyut Sivaramakrishna, Palani Amarnath, KB Arun Karthik, N Einstein and Suresh Kumar