On Sunday, Vijay Shankar made his first appearance for Chennai Super Kings in nearly 11 years – breaking a franchise record.
In CSK's third match of IPL 2025, they travelled to Guwahati for their first away match of the season, taking on the Rajasthan Royals. Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad won his third toss in a row, and elected to field first.
Match 11, Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings
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The visitors made two changes to their lineup, bringing in Vijay Shankar and Jamie Overton for Deepak Hooda and Sam Curran. Both players were signed at the auction in November – Shankar for INR 1.2 crore, and the debutant Overton for INR 1.5 crore.
This is Shankar's second appearance for CSK, the first having come in May 2014, also against Rajasthan Royals. That was his IPL debut, in which he bowled one over for 19 runs as Shane Watson took him down. He did not bat in CSK's run chase. Since then, he has represented Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans in the league.
The gap between his CSK appearances is 3,974 days – just a couple of months shy of 11 years. This is a new franchise record, going past the mark of 3,591 days set by R Ashwin when he appeared for CSK for the first time in almost a decade, exactly one week ago.
Shankar also ranks third on the all-franchise list, behind Karn Sharma (5,093 days between appearances for RCB) and Mandeep Singh (4,751 days between appearances for KKR).
Longest gaps between IPL appearances for one franchise, full list
| Player | Team | From | To | Gap (days) |
| Karn Sharma | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 22 April 2009 | 2 April 2023 | 5,093 |
| Mandeep Singh | Kolkata Knight Riders | 29 March 2010 | 1 April 2023 | 4,751 |
| Vijay Shankar | Chennai Super Kings | 13 May 2014 | 30 March 2025 | 3,974 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | Delhi Capitals | 30 May 2008 | 24 March 2019 | 3,950 |
| R Ashwin | Chennai Super Kings | 24 May 2015 | 23 March 2025 | 3,591 |
| Dale Steyn | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 24 April 2010 | 19 April 2019 | 3,282 |
| David Warner | Delhi Capitals | 19 May 2013 | 7 April 2022 | 3,245 |
| JP Duminy | Mumbai Indians | 25 April 2010 | 28 April 2018 | 2,925 |
| Shreyas Gopal | Mumbai Indians | 9 April 2016 | 11 April 2024 | 2,924 |
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