One of the biggest talking points after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction was veteran batter Suresh Raina going unsold. Raina, known as ‘Mr IPL’, played his major part in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise over the years. However, the Ghaziabad-born was not picked by the four-time champions at the bidding event.
Raina had a poor campaign in the previous season of the cash-rich league, which turned out to be the key reason why no franchise went for him in the auction. This will be the first time in the history of IPL when Raina would not be representing any team.
Notably, the 35-year-old has been one of the most successful batters and consistent run-getter in the IPL. In 205 matches, Raina has amassed 5528 runs and is the fourth-highest run-scorer. He has also played an instrumental role in CSK’s success over the years.
Speaking about the red-hot topic amongst the fans, former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull reckoned that Raina has lost CSK and skipper MS Dhoni’s loyalty due to an incident in 2020, and that’s why the Super Kings didn’t bid for ‘Chinna Thala’.
Raina had pulled out of the 2020 season just a few days ahead of the start of the tournament in UAE, citing personal reasons. However, some reports had claimed that the CSK star had a rift with the team management. Raina missed out the entire season, and the Super Kings failed to make it to the playoffs.
“There are 2 to 3 parts to it. He lost his loyalty in the UAE. We don’t need to go into why that was, but you know there’s enough speculation about that, so he lost the loyalty. Of all the team, he lost the loyalty of MS Dhoni. So once you do that, you are very, very unlikely to be welcomed back. He’s not fit, and he is scared of the short ball,” Doull was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz.
