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Ask anyone why Chennai Super Kings is so special and the discussion invariably turns towards MS Dhoni’s calm, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s class, or that uncanny knack of winning those last-over matches under pressure. There is another side of this franchise that goes under the radar, however – their bat-shattering, ball-expulsion dynamic when conditions allow it, and temperament takes over. That side of the story is told quite succinctly by the Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL history.
Murali Vijay’s 122 not out in 2010 – a record that is 16 years old and still stands to this day; Michael Hussey’s barnstorming debut during the first week of that tournament; and Dewald Brevis & Devon Conway ripping Ahmedabad apart in game week one in 2025 – CSK have produced some of the all-time best batting performances the IPL has ever seen. The following guide runs through every significant entry on that list with the match context, key performers, final scoreline, and what each total says about how this franchise approaches batting as an art form.
A few headline numbers that put the story of Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL context, before a detailed innings-by-innings breakdown.
| Stats | Detail |
| Franchise Founded | 2008 |
| IPL Titles | 5 (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023) |
| Total IPL Matches | 282 |
| Wins | 155 |
| Win Percentage | 55.0% |
| Highest Team Score (All-Time) | 246/5 vs Rajasthan Royals, 2010 |
| Lowest Team Score | 79 all out vs Mumbai Indians, 2013 |
| Times Crossed 200 | 10+ across 18 seasons |
| Won After Crossing 200 | 9 out of 10 |
| All-Time Top Run-Scorer | Suresh Raina (5,529 runs) |
| All-Time Top Wicket-Taker | Ravindra Jadeja (141+ wickets) |
In IPL matches, CSK have breached the 200-mark on ten occasions over the previous 18 seasons, ending up on the winning side in nine of those games. The nine-from-ten conversion rate when batting first with 200-plus totals tells you everything about how punishing CSK can be any time their batsmen really click that evening.
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This is it. The first uncrossable mountain, the final number sitting above the others in Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL all-time rankings for sixteen straight (and uninterrupted) seasons. Murali Vijay’s 127 off 56 balls at MA Chidambaram Stadium is the top batting performance for CSK in IPL. In his innings, he hit 11 sixes and 8 fours. Albie Morkel brought up 62 off 34, and together the two put on a stand of 152 for the third wicket.
That day, Chepauk had a flat and true pitch, and Vijay accepted it as if he was gifted something personal. Rajasthan, however, did not fall without a fight. And then there was a 94 not out off 55 balls by Naman Ojha and a pummeling 60 (25) from Shane Watson. A total of 469 runs were scored in 40 overs during the match, which was at the time the highest aggregate ever in an IPL match. His not-so-honorable figures of 2/15 from as many overs made the real difference; with everyone being taken for runs, Bollinger’s economy of 3.75 was a godsend in an innings where CSK hardly found control
That 246/5 mark has survived sixteen seasons of IPL, even as the highest IPL total outside that particular match in the league history is lifted three times in the same window. CSK won by 23 runs.
| Detail | Information |
| Score | 246/5 (20 overs) |
| Opponent | Rajasthan Royals |
| Date | April 3, 2010 |
| Venue | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai |
| Star Performer | Murali Vijay – 127 off 56 balls (11 sixes, 8 fours) |
| Support | Albie Morkel – 62 off 34 balls |
| Opposition Score | 223/5 |
| Result | CSK won by 23 runs |
This was the inaugural IPL match for CSK. And Hussey decided to introduce himself with a hundred. Hussey brought up his hundred in just 50 balls and pummelled everyone from Brett Lee to Sreesanth, to James Hopes.
Michael Hussey signalled CSK’s intent with an explosive 116 not out (54b) laced with 9 sixes and 8 fours on a flat Mohali surface. Suresh Raina scored 32 runs off 13 balls and MS Dhoni contributed productively, scoring at a strike rate of around 156 with figures reading 25 (16), and therefore CSK accumulated the fearsome score of 240/5. Remember this was just the second game ever in IPL history. Mind you, the league was only two days old. In reply James Hopes banged 71 off 33 balls and Kumar Sangakkara made a quick fifty but Punjab managed to post only 207/4. However, 240 was always going to be too many and CSK won by 33 runs.
| Detail | Information |
| Score | 240/5 (20 overs) |
| Opponent | Kings XI Punjab |
| Date | April 19, 2008 |
| Venue | PCA Stadium, Mohali |
| Star Performer | Michael Hussey – 116* off 54 balls (9 sixes, 8 fours) |
| Opposition Score | 207/4 |
| Result | CSK won by 33 runs |
In IPL 2023, Chennai Super Kings surged into dominance from the get-go at Eden Gardens. Batting first after Nitish Rana elected to bowl, Devon Conway (56) and Ruturaj Gaikwad put together a strong partnership at the top-order. Ajinkya Rahane then went on a rampage with an unbeaten 71 runs off just 29 deliveries as Shivam Dube blasted 50 runs off 21 balls to help CSK up to a total of 235/4 – the highest-ever in IPL history at Eden Gardens up until that point.
In the last ten overs of this innings, CSK plundered a whopping 155 runs. That is not-so-simple not just aggressive batting – that is a thousand-cuts demolition of a bowling team across every death phase. KKR beat CSK by an impressive 49 runs away from home as they ended at 186/8 in the chase.
| Detail | Information |
| Score | 235/4 (20 overs) |
| Opponent | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| Date | April 23, 2023 |
| Venue | Eden Gardens, Kolkata |
| Star Performers | Ajinkya Rahane – 71* off 29; Shivam Dube – 50 off 21 |
| Anchor | Devon Conway – 56 off 40 |
| Opposition Score | 186/8 |
| Result | CSK won by 49 runs |
CSK ended their IPL 2025 campaign with their biggest total of the season. Devon Conway 52, Ayush Mhatre quick start included 34 of 17 balls Dewald Brevis blaster innings with a total of CSK made huge score on board with the help of him he owned the ground by smashing 57 off problematic area to CSK (230/5).
What happened with the ball, though, was all the more one-sided. Gujarat Titans withered away to 147 all out, a few crucial wickets picked up by Ravindra Jadeja. CSK won by 83 runs – their biggest win of the season. The last catch of the match was completed by no other than MS Dhoni himself. Brevis, an exciting young South African, was the most eye-catching of the names – his 57 off 23 balls during the closing stages was power-hitting that feasts on teams defensively setting totals.
| Detail | Information |
| Score | 230/5 (20 overs) |
| Opponent | Gujarat Titans |
| Date | May 25, 2025 |
| Venue | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad |
| Star Performer | Dewald Brevis – 57 off 23 balls |
| Support | Devon Conway – 52; Ayush Mhatre – 34 off 17 |
| Opposition Score | 147 all out (18.3 overs) |
| Result | CSK won by 83 runs |
A southern derby that is worth the hype, high voltage Batting-friendly as the surface on which CSK scored heavily again, Devon Conway starred with a brilliant 83 off 45 balls at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Middle-order muscle came from Shivam Dube with 52 off 27 balls while Ajinkya Rahane at the top offered a brisk contribution of 37 off 20. CSK finished with 226/6 in their 20 overs.
RCB responded through knocks from Glenn Maxwell (76 off 36) and Faf du Plessis (62 off 33), but only managed to finish on 218/8. CSK had almost managed to defend that total but lost by only 8 runs in a low-scoring thriller. That, and the fact that Chinnaswamy is widely regarded as a ground that swallows up pretty much every 200-plus target with ease, gives you an idea of just how tight this game was in reality: winning by only 8 runs in a game like this – at least in terms of sheer numbers – represents passing another milestone on very narrow margins.
| Detail | Information |
| Score | 226/6 (20 overs) |
| Opponent | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| Season | IPL 2023 |
| Venue | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru |
| Star Performer | Devon Conway – 83 off 45 balls |
| Support | Shivam Dube – 52 off 27; Rahane – 37 off 20 |
| Opposition Score | 218/8 |
| Result | CSK won by 8 runs |
| Rank | Score | Opponent | Season | Venue | Result |
| 1 | 246/5 | Rajasthan Royals | 2010 | Chepauk, Chennai | Won by 23 runs |
| 2 | 240/5 | Kings XI Punjab | 2008 | Mohali | Won by 33 runs |
| 3 | 235/4 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 2023 | Eden Gardens | Won by 49 runs |
| 4 | 230/5 | Gujarat Titans | 2025 | Ahmedabad | Won by 83 runs |
| 5 | 226/6 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 2023 | Chinnaswamy | Won by 8 runs |
| 6 | 222/5 | Delhi Daredevils | 2012 | Chepauk | Won by 86 runs |
| 7 | 220/3 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 2022 | Wankhede | Won by 18 runs |
| 8 | 219/4 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 2019 | Hyderabad | Won by 77 runs |
| 9 | 218/4 | Mumbai Indians | 2021 | Delhi | Lost by 4 wkts |
| 10 | 218/5 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 2023 | Delhi | Won by result |
A cursory glance at the Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL is not a complete one without plenty of focus on those who have propelled these scores to such heights over the various eras of this franchise.
It is the previous record itself that is the work of Murali Vijay. In 2010, his 127 off 56 balls was not just the highest individual IPL score for CSK but one of the most destructive innings in the history of IPL. He also scored 113 from 58 balls in a bump-hand game against the Delhi Daredevils in 2012: testament that this was no flash-in-the-pan performance, with CSK claiming their sixth-largest IPL score.
That template was set in stone as early as the very first week of IPL cricket, when Michael Hussey blasted 116 not out at Mohali to serve notice that there would be no relaxing for CSK with the bat in their hands during this tournament.
Devon Conway has been the modern-day anchor for many big totals. Conway has been a springboard away from the anchors – his 83 at Chinnaswamy, his 56 at Eden Gardens, his 52 in Ahmedabad have each set the stage for CSK’s brutal middle-order clean-up jobs. His consistency at the top has been a present for all of these totals.
Current generation CSK power-hitters like Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane and Dewald Brevis have made totals of 220-plus a real possibility of our time for the franchise. The 71 (29) that Rahane produced at Eden Gardens and Dube’s 50 (21) in the same match were probably two of CSK’s best combined middle-order onslaughts of any innings.
With Conway, Dube, Rahane and Brevis all featured in four of the top five entries that came in 2023 or later. It is an important change – it tells us the current CSK batting unit is quite possibly the most destructive that this franchise has boasted since the early 2010s, during the last days of the Vijay-Raina-Hussey era.
The Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL list is not the product of accident or unusual conditions. It’s a batting philosophy that the franchise has held with stunning consistency for almost two decades.
CSK have long believed in top-order partnerships rather than individual heroics. This entry on this list – there always has to be a platform being built by two before the slaughter. Conway and Gaikwad at Eden Gardens, Conway and Mhatre in Ahmedabad, Hussey and the middle order at Mohali.
Secondly, CSK are merciless in the death overs. A single number sums up the intent of a batting philosophy that is like no other; CSK scored 155 runs in the last ten overs against KKR in 2023. They are bullish enough to build, and violent enough to capitalize.
Third, the specifics of who has to deliver the final blow are not established. Ambati Rayudu’s 72 not out off 27 balls against Mumbai Indians, Dewald Brevis’s half-century for MI in two of the three recent games – 57 off 23 in Ahmedabad, Rahane’s (71* at Eden Gardens) – one for Kolkata Knight Riders – the day you read conditions best wins. It is that depth that makes CSK a genuinely dangerous proposition at any stage in a chase or total.
Also Read: Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans Match Scorecard
Chennai Super Kings edged past Delhi Capitals by a whopping 23-run margin in the IPL 2026 match after Sanju Samson hammered an unbeaten ton (115* off 56 balls). The batting resources are certainly available with young talents like Ayush Mhatre continuing to grow alongside seasoned candidates. The 246 has endured sixteen seasons and three epochs of T20 batting evolution. The story of Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL is a long way from being done – it could fall in 2026 or beyond.
The Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL is not simply a catalogue of impressive figures, it embodies the franchise’s five fearless batting style and knack for monopolising the biggest stage on the signature stage. Be it Murali Vijay’s iconic 127 in 2010 or the eccentricity of Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube and Dewald Brevis in recent seasons CSK have ensured that they can pile on mammoth totals while keeping with the changing face of T20 cricket.
But with the batting depth and attacking mindset the current team possesses, that figure, which lasted for more than 15 years, could be beaten at some stage. Be it in Chepauk or away from home, CSK continues to give memorable batting performances that entertain the fans and set new standards. The Chennai Super Kings highest score in IPL is something fans will be keeping an eye on as every new IPL season unfolds, a record that epitomizes this storied franchise’s legacy of super-hitting, dependability, and match-winning prowess.
The highest score in IPL for CSK is 246/5 (vs Rajasthan Royals) on April 3, 2010, at Chepauk
Yes, CSK have also managed to breach the 240 mark twice so far -246/5 (2010) and 240/5 (2008).
CSK has scored 200-plus runs in 10 matches, winning 9.
Top Contributors are Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Ajinkya Rahane, and Devon Conway
No. The highest total in the IPL is 287/3 set by Sunrisers Hyderabad (2024)