Suresh Raina ‘lost loyalty’ of key player. Former CSK star on IPL snub

Raina was released by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the auction, and went unsold in the two-day event in Bengaluru last week. He was part of CSK since the tournament’s inaugural edition, barring two seasons (2016 and 2017) when the franchise was banned from taking part in the cash-rich league. He led the now defunct Gujarat Lions for two seasons.

After skipping the 2020 edition due to personal reasons, Raina endured a difficult outing in IPL 2021, and missed the latter stages of the tournament due to a knee injury.

Speaking on Raina getting unsold in the auction, former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull listed “two to three” reasons that prompted CSK, as well as the other franchises, to ignore the veteran batter at the auction.

“There are two to three parts to it. He lost his loyalty in the UAE, we don’t need to go on [and talk about] why it was. There’s enough speculation about that. He lost the loyalty of the team and he lost the loyalty of M S Dhoni. Once you do that, you’re very unlikely to be welcomed back,” Doull told Cricbuzz.

Raina announced his international retirement on the same day as Dhoni. He is the fourth all-time run-getter in the IPL, amassing 5,528 runs in 205 matches.

He also won four IPL titles, all with CSK.