Chennai Super Kings in IPL 4

No. of players bought: 18 (8 Indian, 10 foreign)
Money spent: $8.6 million
Big-ticket signings: R Ashwin ($850,000), S Badrinath ($850,000)
Bargain buy: Michael Hussey ($425,000)
Eyebrow-raiser: Dwayne Bravo ($200,000)
One that got away: Muttiah Muralitharan (Chennai bid up to $1million)

Chennai were perhaps the most disappointed at being disbanded ahead of this auction, and understandably so. They had reached two IPL finals (they won one), a third semi-final, and were also champions of the Champions League. And so they attempted to keep the core of their unit intact, first by retaining four players - three of whom are Indian batsmen who would have been highly sought-after at the auction - and then by buying back as many of their players as they could. They managed seven. Chennai are unlikely to ever be short of bowling options because, in addition to the eight specialists, they have three allrounders in their squad. A rather well-balanced side in terms of skills and the Indian-foreign break-up.

Squad

Batsmen: Suresh Raina (retained), M Vijay (retained), Michael Hussey ($425,000), S Badrinath ($850,000), George Bailey ($50,000)
Bowlers: Doug Bollinger ($700,000), R Ashwin ($850,000), Ben Hilfenhaus ($100,000), Joginder Sharma ($150,000), Nuwan Kulasekara ($100,000), Sudeep Tyagi ($240,000), Suraj Randiv ($80,000), Faf du Plessis ($120,000)
Allrounders: Albie Morkel (retained), Dwayne Bravo ($200,000), Scott Styris ($200,000)
Wicketkeepers: MS Dhoni (retained), Wriddhiman Saha ($100,000)