Five most expensive buys in Chennai Super Kings history

#2 Andrew Flintoff - $1.55 million

Andrew Flintoff may have broken the franchise record for being the most expensive player in 2009, but his signing was one will go down in history for reasons that have nothing to do with his performances on the pitch.

It all started even before the auction in 2009 as it was later revealed that his move to Chennai Super Kings for $1.55 million was facilitated by former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi who had pulled strings to ensure that CSK got their man.

As the only team with a full $2 million to spend, CSK were favorites but Modi told CNN-IBN that the deal which saw Flintoff become the most expensive IPL player along with Kevin Pietersen, who went to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the same year, was manipulated. Modi said: "I was arm-twisted to allow Andrew Flintoff to go to Chennai Super Kings. I'm to blame for that. It's a fact.”

On the field, though, the England all-rounder became one of the biggest flops of the tournament and himself later admitted that he couldn't get going while he was playing for Chennai Super Kings.

Flintoff scored 62 runs at an average of 31 and strike rate of 116.9 and picked up just two wickets at an economy rate of 9.54 in three matches before he was injured and ruled out of the rest of the tournament. In the same year, he retired from cricket and didn't play again in the IPL.