CHENNAI SUPERKINGS

Chennai, Mar 18 : India Cements, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee for Chennai, on Tuesday announced that it has signed up Tamil cinestars Vijay and Nayanthara as brand ambassadors for the team Chennai Superkings.

India Cements executive president T S Raghupathy and former cricketer K. Srikkanth said that Vijay and Nayanthara would endorse Chennai Super Kings, appear on hoardings and IPL television advertisements, and also cheer captain M S Dhoni and his team.

“The idea of bringing star ambassadors like Vijay and Nayanthara is to popularise the team and get more members for Chennai Super Kings. We will have a lot of support
for Chennai Super Kings," Srikkanth said.

Vijay and Nayanthara who will lend the touch of glamour to the Chennai team are stars riding a wave and are extremely popular in south India.

India Cements Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) President and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Treasurer N
Srinivasan, the franchisee owner of Chennai Super Kings has pulled off a coup by getting two of the hottest stars in south to endorse for them.

Indian pacer L. Balaji who last played for India Red at Chennai in 2006 has also been included as an additional bowler in the Chennai Super Kings team.

The first match will be held on April 23 in Chennai followed by one each in Mohali, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The Chennai IPL team led by Dhoni also has S. Badrinatrh, R. Ashwin, Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan, Anirudh Srikkanth from Tamil Nadu.

Apart from skipper M. S. Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings have roped in top cricketing stars Mathew Hayden, Stephen Fleming, Jacob Oram, Michael Hussey, Albie Morkel, Muthiah Muralitharan and Makhaya Ntini. (ANI)

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IPL NEWS

Players

Chennai Super Kings are one of the three franchises with no icon player. The lack of an icon player benefited the Super Kings during the bidding as they managed to bid successfully on two (Dhoni & Muralitharan) of the six A listed players.

The team plans to have twenty three players on its roster. ^[4] Besides the list of players already acquired, the team will pick the remaining members from the three catchment areas - Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Railways - that have been allocated to it. ^[5]

[edit] Current Squad

No	Name	Age	Nationality	Playing role	Batting Style	Bowling/Fielding	Bidding Price
1	MS Dhoni (Captain)	26		Batsman/WK	RHB	WK	US$ 1,500,000
2	Muttiah Muralitharan	35		Bowler	RHB	Right Arm Spin	US$ 600,000
3	Matthew Hayden	36		Batsman	LHB	Right Arm Medium Fast	US$ 375,000
4	Jacob Oram	28		All Rounder	LHB	Right Arm Medium Fast	US$ 675,000
5	Stephen Fleming	35		Batsman	LHB	Right Arm Medium Fast	US$ 350,000
6	Parthiv Patel	22		Batsman/WK	LHB	WK	US$ 325,000
7	Albie Morkel	28		All Rounder	LHB	Right Arm Fast	US$ 675,000
8	Joginder Sharma	24		Bowler	RHB	Right Arm Medium Fast	US$ 225,000
9	Suresh Raina	21		Batsman	LHB	Right Arm Spin	US$ 650,000
10	Makhaya Ntini	30		Bowler	RHB	Right Arm Fast	US$ 200,000
11	Michael Hussey	32		Batsman	LHB	Right Arm Medium Fast	US$ 350,000
12	Ashwin R	21		Bowler	RHB	Right Arm Spin	Under 22 Player
13	Anirudha Srikkanth	21		Batsman	RHB	-	Under 22 Player
14	Sudeep Tyagi	20		Bowler	RHB	Right Arm Medium Fast	Under 22 Player
15	Subramaniam Badrinath	28		Batsman	RHB	Right Arm Spin
16	Shadab Jakati	27		All Rounder	LHB	Left Arm Spin
17	Napoleon Einstein	18		Batsman	RHB	Right Arm Spin	Under 19 Player
18	Abhinav Mukund	18		All Rounder	LHB	Left Arm Spin	Under 19 Player
19	Viraj Kadbe	18		All Rounder	RHB	Right Arm Spin	Under 19 Player