• Raina made the number three slot his own in the CSK lineup.

  • On Saturday, Raina mysteriously pulled out of the tournament and returned home.

IPL 2020: After Suresh Raina’s exit, L. Sivaramakrishnan picks his new no. 3 for CSK
Suresh Raina and L. Sivaramakrishnan. (Image Source: Twitter)

On 15th August, Suresh Raina fans received a major disappointment as he announced his retirement from international cricket.

Fans would have been heartened to see the champion batsman in full-flow during the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), over the weekend, received a significant blow to their campaign with the departure of Raina.

There has been a lot of mystery surrounding Raina’s abrupt exit from the tournament. On Sunday, CSK owner N Srinivasan came up with a surprising statement regarding Raina’s ‘Prima Donna’ attitude.

Moreover, Srinivasan ensured that CSK captain MS Dhoni is not perturbed with Raina’s pulling out of the tournament.

Now, former Indian leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has named the replacement of Raina for the upcoming tournament.

In T20s, most teams employ leg-spinners to trouble the right-handers. But then, a left-hander could negotiate with leggies easily. So the loss of such an established batsman like Raina would hurt CSK,” Sivaramakrishnan told the Times of India.

“But they have a utility player in Curran and could send the southpaw up the order. He can bat at No. 3 and give CSK those useful runs,” he added.

After a decent stint with Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the CSK franchise managed to bag the services of Sam Curran at a whopping price of INR 5.5 crores.

Over the years, we have also seen Dhoni preferring left-arm pacers. Curran can come in handy since he can swing the ball in the air and is a very enthusiastic fielder,” the cricket-turned-commentator concluded.

Curran, for KXIP, went on to pick ten wickets and scored 95 runs, with the highest score of 55*. He also clinched a hat-trick during one of his outings for the Preity Zinta co-owned franchise.

Earlier, CSK players – Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaekwadwere diagnosed as coronavirus positive.

As a result, the quarantine period of CSK has now been extended until 6th September.

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