 The team was captained by Kane Williamson and coached by Tom Moody with Simon Helmot as assistant coach, Muttiah Muralitharan as bowling coach and V. V. S. Laxman as mentor.They began their season by winning their opening fixture on 9 April, and went on to become the first team to qualify for the play-offs on 10 May.They beat the Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 to reach the Final where they lost to the Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets to finish the season as runners-up.