The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans were in full praise of former CSK batsman Suresh Raina for his unwavering loyalty toward his franchise and captain MS Dhoni. These praises and words of respect came from CSK fans after the drama of the Mumbai Indians captaincy unfolded involving Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma.
Hardik, on Friday, was named as the new Mumbai Indians captain, replacing Rohit Sharma, only 20 days after his trade back to MI from the Gujarat Titans was finalized.
On Saturday afternoon came a report that Hardik Pandya had put the condition of getting the captaincy immediately before agreeing the trade. With Mumbai Indians desperately looking for a captain after the 36-year-old Rohit Sharma, and the MI team not having reached the final in the last three seasons while CSK equaled their 5 IPL trophies tally by winning 2 IPL titles in the last three seasons, the Ambani-owned franchise agreed to Hardik’s terms.
Amid all this saga, CSK fans remembered how Suresh Raina never caused or was involved in any controversy of drama during his long and successful career. Even Ravindra Jadeja had a major fallout with MS Dhoni and CSK franchise in 2022. But, fans recalled, Suresh Raina was always happy being the second fiddle, the supporting role, the Chinna Thala to Thala MS Dhoni.
CSK fans lavished laurels on Suresh Raina for his loyalty to MS Dhoni and CSK:
Suresh Raina finished his IPL career with 5528 runs in 205 IPL matches at an average of 32 and strike rate of 136 with one century and 39 half-centuries. The left-hander cracked 506 fours and 203 sixes in his IPL career.
While Raina played for CSK for 12 IPL seasons, he captained the Gujarat Lions team in 2016 and 2017 when CSK was suspended, along with the Rajasthan Royals, for a couple of years.
Raina, who went unsold in the IPL 2022 mega-auction, retired soon and now is a regular commentator.
