Chennai Super Kings’ star batter Suresh Raina had a horrible outing with the bat during Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) first match of IPL 2021 phase 2, which was against Mumbai Indians. Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn was disappointed with the way Raina played and carried himself.
After electing to bat first, CSK started the game with the worst possible note as the team lost four wickets, apart from losing Ambati Rayudu to an injury scare, within the first six overs of the Powerplay. Suresh Raina, who has been the most crucial batter for the franchise, became one of the victims.
Raina walked out to bat in the third over after Ambati Rayudu walked back to the pavilion retired hurt. Raina was welcomed with a stunner from Trent Boult that he tucked away off his hips on the leg side. The second ball also turned out short ball and this time, Raina opted to duck under the ball. The third delivery revealed how uncomfortable Raina was. He was eventually dismissed after facing 6 balls, scoring just one boundary.
Raina’s dismissal also disappointed Dale Steyn, who has now come hard on the stylish batter. Steyn reckoned that Raina looked like a “school-boy” cricketer during his stay on-field. He said:
“Boult started really well. That ball especially to Raina. He ran in and set that aggressive leg-side field. And you could see immediately that. He (Suresh Raina) didn’t want anything of it. He looked like a school boy cricketer at a point. I couldn’t believe this was an international player doing what he was doing, almost embarrassing that he broke his bat and got out. Had that gone for six, maybe I won’t have said that but it is what we saw,”
