At the 2012 players auction, the team bought Ravindra Jadeja for $2 million (₹ 97.2 million), the bid which turned out to be the biggest draw in the players' auction for the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League.^[1] They also bought out the contract of Tim Southee who was signed as a replacement player in the previous season.

Players with international caps before the start of the 2012 IPL season are listed in bold.

The Super Kings started their IPL 2012 campaign with an 8-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener in Chennai. CSK were bundled out for 112 before Richard Levi struck a fifty to set up the victory for the visiting team.^[2] Ravindra Jadeja came up with a match-winning all-round performance (48 off 29, 5/16) to help his team to a resounding 74-run win over Deccan Chargers in their second home game. In their first away game of the season, the Super Kings lost to Delhi Daredevils by 8 wickets after a poor show by the batsmen. Their win against Royal Challengers Bangalore was made possible by Albie Morkel, who scored 28 runs from the 19th over bowled by Virat Kohli, and Jadeja who hit a boundary off the last ball of the match to see his side chase down the target of 206. South African Francois du Plessis was adjudged Man of the match for his innings of 71. At Pune, after restricting the Super Kings to 155, Jesse Ryder and Steve Smith took the Pune Warriors home with four balls to spare to hand a third defeat to CSK in five games. However they beat the same opponents at home by 13 runs after du Plessis and Subramaniam Badrinath scored fifties in the first innings. du Plessis struck another half-century (73 off 52) to take Chennai to their second consecutive win. Their next game, which was supposed to be played at Bangalore against the Royal Challengers, was washed out without a ball bowled due to rain. They suffered a home defeat against Kings XI Punjab after they failed to chase the target of 157. KXIP's Mandeep Singh was awarded the Man of the match for his innings of 56. They lost another home game by 5 wickets to Kolkata Knight Riders whose run chase was anchored by skipper Gautam Gambhir's half-century. Chennai got back to winning ways with a 10-run win over the struggling Deccan Chargers despite a fighting knock by the Chargers' vice-captain Cameron White. The Super Kings then lost to Mumbai Indians off the last ball of the match. Dwayne Smith, who was playing his first match of the season for Mumbai, hit 14 runs off the last three balls bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus to take his team to a dramatic victory. The loss severely dented CSK's chances of progressing to the Playoffs. In another thrilling match, Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets mainly due to cameos by Albie Morkel and Anirudha Srikkanth, each of them scoring unbeaten six-ball 18. In their last home match of the league stage, Chennai comprehensively beat the Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, needing five to win on the last ball for CSK, Dwayne Bravo hit a six over long-on off the bowling of Rajat Bhatia to take the Super Kings to a 5-wicket win. Needing a win in their last league match to assure their place in the Playoffs, the Super Kings lost to Kings XI Punjab by 7 wickets at Dharamsala. However, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, both ended up with 17 points from 16 games, but the latter managed to get the fourth spot on the points table due to a better net run rate.

The Super Kings played Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator at Bangalore. After losing two early wickets, Hussey and Badrinath shared a 94-run third-wicket partnership to take the team to a respectable position. Then, the skipper MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo scored 73 runs in the last five overs to set up a score of 187/5 in 20 overs. Mumbai in their run-chase got off to a brisk start before a dramatic batting collapse. CSK spinners Ashwin and Jakati picked up one wicket each and bowled seven economical overs between them that proved decisive in the context of the match. CSK won the match by 38 runs and Dhoni was given the Man of the Match for his innings of 51* (20). The win took them to the second Qualifier at Chennai, a match against Delhi Daredevils, to decide who plays in the final. Daredevils won the toss and put Chennai into bat and this decision backfired. Opener Murali Vijay, who had a quiet season until then, came to his own striking a century (113 runs from 60 deliveries, 15 fours and four sixes) to take his team to 222/5. The bowlers backed up the good batting by bowling tight line and length and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Only Mahela Jayawardene showed some resistance for Delhi with a knock of 55 but to see his team lose by 86 runs. The win booked CSK's place in the final at their home ground Chennai against the Kolkata Knight Riders. This was the fourth time in five seasons, that CSK had made it to the final of the IPL.

Chennai elected to bat in the final after winning the toss. After a solid opening partnership between Hussey and Vijay, Suresh Raina played his best innings of the season scoring an unbeaten 38-ball 73. Chennai went on to make 190/3 in 20 overs. Kolkata lost the wicket of their skipper Gambhir in the first over of the run-chase. Then Manvinder Bisla, who was playing his first game in two weeks, took on the bowlers single-handedly and scored 89 from 48 balls. Batting at three, Jacques Kallis not only scored 69 (49) but also put up a crucial second-wicket stand of 136 runs with Bisla. However, the game swung CSK's way after KKR lost four wickets in as many overs. After the fall of Kallis in the 19th over, KKR needed 16 runs to win from 7 balls. KKR went on to win the game by five wickets with two balls to spare thanks to two consecutive boundaries from Manoj Tiwary in the last over. The Knight Riders secured their maiden IPL title with this win and Bisla won the Man of the Match award.^[3][4]

Suresh Raina finished as Chennai's leading run scorer with 441 runs. Dwayne Bravo lead the bowling tables with 15 wickets.

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• Delhi Daredevils in 2012