IPL 2020: Chennai Super Kings rules out Raina’s return

The Indian Premier League 2020 journey is conclusively over for Suresh Raina! Chennai Super Kings Chief Executive Kasi Viswanathan has ruled out the veteran top-order batsman’s return to the team.

Kasi Viswanathan has confirmed that there is no possibility of Raina’s return for the ongoing IPL in the UAE, and added that the CSK respected his space and decision

Raina had flown back from the UAE citing personal reasons after 13 members of the CSK camp, including new ball bowler Deepak Chahar and young wicketkeeper-batsman Ruturaj Gaekwad, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The team’s quarantine period was extended by two weeks.

Raina had since approached the CSK boss N Srinivasan and was in regular touch with the franchisee and team management in the UAE.

After CSK’s failure in two successive matches, speculation whether the team would summon Raina to strengthen the middle order. Viswanathan has ruled out the possibility.

“We cannot look at Raina because he made himself unavailable, and we respect his decision and his space. We are not thinking about it,” Viswanathan has told news agency ANI.

“I can assure the fans that we will bounce back strongly. It’s a game and you have your good and bad days. But the boys know what they need to do and the smiles will be back.”

After the game against Delhi Capitals, which CSK lost by 47 runs chasing 176, Dhoni had admitted lack of “steam” in the batting.

“We are lacking a bit of steam in the batting and that hurts. The run rate keeps on mounting after such slow starts and adds pressure, we need to figure that out. We need to come back with a clearer picture, looking at the combination. There are quite a few things we can think about. We are one batter extra to start off, so the players need to step up,” Dhoni said.

Coach Stephen Fleming too admitted that the batting was “muddled” in the absence of key players like Raina and Rayudu, who missed the last two games due to injury.

“We are a bit muddled at the moment, we are missing some key players and are trying to find a balance that allows us to be competitive,” he said. “Again it comes to the spin bowling aspect, we are looking to develop a personality on the type of pitches we are getting. We are trying to find a combination without Raina and Rayudu. The performance against Delhi was on the weaker side in terms of intent. It has been an interesting six days and now we have the time to rectify the issues and there are a few of them.”

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