3 teams that can pick Suresh Raina in IPL 2021

Chennai Super Kings’ swashbuckling batsman Suresh Raina’s departure from the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, slated to begin on September 19 across three venues namely Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, has raised a lot of eyebrows in the cricket world. After 13 members of the CSK contingent, including two players namely Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Raina travelled back to India citing personal reasons.

Many speculations and rumours are floating in the media regarding Raina’s exit from the tournament. It is believed that the 33-year-old might never return back to play for the three-time champion Super Kings, captained by MS Dhoni. Raina’s decision of pulling out from the 2020 edition has irked some of the top officials of CSK and they are not willing to take the cricketer back for the following season.

This means that there are chances that Suresh Raina might be back in auction for the first time since 2008 for the 2021 edition of the cash-rich league. It will be no surprise if Raina gets sold out at a staggering price and becomes the most expensive buy of the 2021 auction as the batsman has exceptional batting records under his belt.

The Uttar Pradesh stalwart is only behind Indian skipper Virat Kohli in terms of the highest run-getter in the history of the T20 league. Also, he is the most capped player in the Indian Premier League.

Let’s take a look at 3 teams that can pick Suresh Raina in IPL 2021: –

1. Mumbai Indians

The four-time champion Mumbai Indians arguably have the most complete batting line-up with the services of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard.

From attacking openers to stabilizers in the middle order and powerful finishers, the players in MI fulfill each role in demand. Despite having a lethal batting line-up, Mumbai Indians can be in the race to add Suresh Raina in their team.

Over the years, it has been observed that Mumbai’s team management gives a lot of importance to the quality players and is always looking forward to adding new additions to their team to make it more versatile. Also, MI would want a specialist number 4 batsman as a cushion for the occasional top-order collapse and no one can enact this role better than Raina.