'He lost the loyalty of MS Dhoni' - Simon Doull after Suresh Raina goes unsold in IPL mega auction

It came as a shock to many cricket lovers when Suresh Raina popularly known as Mr. IPL didn’t manage to attract even a single bid in the IPL 2022 mega auction and went unsold. Raina did not have a great run in IPL 2021. Veteran cricketer and commentator Simon Doull has opined as to why he was not picked by his former franchise Chennai Super Kings.

The left-handed batter was released by CSK ahead of the mega auction while the franchise picked Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, and RuturajGaikwad as their four retained players. With Raina not retained, the batter kept himself under a base price of Rs 2 crore. However, Mr. IPL known for his success in the T20 league right since its inception was ignored by all franchises.  The left-handed batter’s name came up only on day one as none of the teams asked him to be presented during the accelerated process.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Doull opined “There are 2 to 3 parts to it. He lost his loyalty in the UAE. We don’t need to go into why that was but you know there’s enough speculation about that, so he lost the loyalty. Of all the team, he lost the loyalty of MS Dhoni. So once you do that, you are very very unlikely to be welcomed back. He’s not fit and he is scared of the short ball.

Suresh Raina’s rich contribution to CSK

It is to be noted that, Raina came back to India from UAE during IPL 2020 after COVID-19 hit the Yellow Army’s camp. He was retained by CSK for IPL 2021 but Raina missed the ending phase of the tournament due to a knee injury. Regular injuries and lack of proper competitive cricket might be some of the prominent reasons for him going unsold this year.

Once the league’s highest run-scorer, Raina has 5528 runs in 205 matches. His tally includes one century and 39 half-centuries. Apart from CSK, Raina also captained Gujrat Lions in IPL 2016 and 2017. As a player, Raina was part of CSK’s every IPL title win and is a four-time IPL champion.