---
type: story
title: "MI vs CSK: The Decade That Defined What IPL Is"
description: >
  Between 2010 and 2023, MI and CSK won 10 of 14 IPL titles between them.
  No other franchise came close to either. The data on how two teams dominated
  one competition for over a decade is cricket's clearest franchise-era story.
tags:
  - IPL
  - team
  - history
  - records
status: active
last_verified: 2026-06-25
timestamp: 2026-06-25
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: public_open_data
canonical_page: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/mi-csk-the-decade/
resource: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/mi-csk-the-decade/
entity_id: cricketstudio:story:mi-csk-the-decade
dataset_version: 2026-06-11
provenance:
  source: >
    IPL champion records: public domain, Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 match results.
    Title year attribution confirmed via CricketStudio ipl-champions-history dataset.
  confidence: high
  notes: >
    Title year data is from public domain IPL records corroborated by Cricsheet CC BY 3.0.
    Franchise suspensions (CSK 2016-2017, RR 2016-2017) noted where relevant.
related:
  - ../dossier/ipl-most-titles-by-team.md
  - ../dossier/ipl-champions-history.md
  - ../dossier/best-ipl-captain-all-time.md
  - ../stories/rohit-five-titles-mi-blueprint.md
---

# MI vs CSK: The Decade That Defined What IPL Is

## The Question Nobody Asked

If you had to explain what IPL is to someone who had never seen a cricket match, where would you start? The answer, through the lens of data, is 2010 to 2023.

## What the Data Says

**IPL titles 2010–2023 (Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 + public record):**

| Year | Champion |
|------|---------|
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2011 | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2012 | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| 2013 | Mumbai Indians |
| 2014 | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| 2015 | Mumbai Indians |
| 2016 | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| 2017 | Mumbai Indians |
| 2018 | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2019 | Mumbai Indians |
| 2020 | Mumbai Indians |
| 2021 | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2022 | Gujarat Titans |
| 2023 | Chennai Super Kings |

**MI and CSK in that window:**

| Franchise | Titles in 2010–2023 | Title years |
|-----------|-------------------|------------|
| Mumbai Indians | 5 | 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 5 | 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023 |
| All others combined | 4 | 2012 (KKR), 2014 (KKR), 2016 (SRH), 2022 (GT) |

In 14 IPL seasons from 2010 to 2023, MI and CSK won 10. Every other franchise combined won 4.

*(Note: CSK was suspended from IPL in 2016 and 2017 due to a spot-fixing investigation. During those seasons, Rising Pune Supergiant played in their place. CSK's title count reflects only seasons when they participated.)*

## The Wow

The 10-out-of-14 figure is not a coincidence of era. Consider what each franchise had:

**CSK's structural advantages:**
- [MS Dhoni](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/mahendra-singh-dhoni) as captain and finisher for the entire era — 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023
- A stable squad philosophy: CSK consistently retained core players rather than rebuilding at auction
- The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, with its slower surfaces that suit spin — a genuine home advantage

**MI's structural advantages:**
- Death bowling: Malinga through 2017, [Bumrah](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/jasprit-bumrah) from 2017 onwards — two of T20 cricket's greatest death bowlers in consecutive generational slots
- [Rohit Sharma](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/rohit-sharma) as captain from 2013 onwards — the only player to win the IPL five times as captain
- Deep batting: the Pollard slot (positions 6–7) carried matches when the top order failed

What neither franchise built was a system dependent on any one batter's brilliance. The contrast with [Kohli](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/virat-kohli)'s RCB — where his 973-run season in 2016 didn't produce a title — is instructive. Both MI and CSK won without a single season-defining batting performance at the top.

For full historical data: [players.cricketstudio.ai/leagues/ipl/standings](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/leagues/ipl/)

## What It Doesn't Say

The two franchises have now both stalled: MI finished 10th (of 10) in IPL 2026 (NRR -0.712), and CSK's most recent title is 2023. The 2025 and 2026 IPL titles went to RCB in back-to-back seasons, suggesting the dominance pattern has broken.

Whether MI and CSK's decade-long run was sustainable franchise-building or a specific player-era phenomenon ([Bumrah](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/jasprit-bumrah) + [Rohit](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/rohit-sharma), [Dhoni](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/mahendra-singh-dhoni) + CSK batting) is a question the data can describe but not resolve. Both explanations are consistent with the title record.

## Related Concepts

- [IPL Most Titles by Team](../dossier/ipl-most-titles-by-team.md)
- [IPL Champions History](../dossier/ipl-champions-history.md)
- [Rohit's Five Titles: MI Blueprint](../stories/rohit-five-titles-mi-blueprint.md)
