Chennai Super Kings were dealt with two huge blows when their experienced duo of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), days before the tournament started, citing personal reasons.
After CSK lost a few wickets quickly in the middle-order against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, the fans have already started missing Suresh Raina in CSK’s yellow. With Ambati Rayudu having hurt his hamstring just before that game, they hope that the left-hander comes to the UAE at some point in the tournament.
Suresh Raina, who has been CSK’s batting mainstay since the inception of IPL, has scored more than 350 runs in every season of the IPL. On 29 August, he announced that he will not be taking part in this year of the lucrative league.
This left CSK and its fans upset and heartbroken as coming in at No 3, he has won many games for his team and has been a dependable batsman. After which, stories about his rift with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and him being upset about the hotel room he was given, started surfacing, which he refuted when he finally opened about the decision, four days later.
On 2 September in an interview to Cricbuzz, he talked about the increasing COVID-19 scare and said that he had to return to his family when bio-bubble is not safe. Earlier, 13 members of CSK staff and a couple of players had tested positive for coronavirus.
But the netizens want to see Suresh Raina feature in this edition of the IPL as he hinted in that conversation that he might come back if situation improves.
Here are some of the reactions of the fans of Chennai Super Kings and Suresh Raina:
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)