MS Dhoni's birthday: Top 5 glorious moments with CSK

#3 Clever field placement to dismiss Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard was foxed by some brilliant captaincy from Dhoni (P.C. CricTracker)

CSK's maiden IPL title also came down to a clever move by MS Dhoni that turned out to be decisive in the final. Mumbai Indians needed 55 runs from the last three overs to win the IPL 2010 final.

Although it looked tough, Kieron Pollard came out all guns blazing and smashed 22 runs off Doug Bollinger to bring MI roaring back into the game. It was clear that only he stood between CSK and victory and MS Dhoni just had to do something out of the ordinary to get the West Indian out.

Dhoni kept a fielder fairly straighter than the usual mid-off, alongside a wider long-off anticipating that Pollard would hit straight down the ground. The plan confused several critics and commentators. But it worked wonders as Pollard hit the ball straight to mid-off fielder Matthew Hayden and CSK ended up winning their maiden IPL title.

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#2 MS Dhoni's fastest fifty for CSK

Dhoni scored 34 runs off Thisara Perera's over (Source: Twitter)

CSK faced the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a Champions League T20 encounter back in 2013. Suresh Raina's blistering 87 helped CSK post a daunting 202-4, but it was MS Dhoni's unbelievable knock that got all the headlines.

The CSK skipper scored 63 runs off an unbelievable 19 balls and brought up his half-century in just 16 deliveries. This is still a record in CLT20 history and is his fastest half-century for CSK.

The highlight of that innings was some unbelievable hitting from Dhoni off Thisara Perera, where he took the pacer for 34 runs including five huge sixes!

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#1 Back-to-back IPL titles

CSK were a dominant force in the 2010 and 2011 IPL campaigns (Source: Twitter)

Winning the IPL title in itself is a difficult task but to be able to repeat that feat in consecutive years is an unbelievable achievement. Until Mumbai did it last season, CSK was the only team that had achieved this feat, securing the title in 2010 and 2011.

That CSK team didn't have too many big names like some of their counterparts. But the side, coached by Stephen Fleming, banked on players such as Albie Morkel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay who were the unsung heroes of the two campaigns.

The Indian core of the team was strong as well, with MS Dhoni himself, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin doing the bulk of the damage to their oppositions. It was a fantastic achievement by CSK.

MS Dhoni also later helped the Chennai outfit to a third IPL title in the 2018 season, which marked their return after a two-year ban.