Suresh Raina Lost The Loyalty Of MS Dhoni: Simon Doull Explains Why The Veteran Player Was Left Out In IPL 2022 Auction

Cricketer-turned-commentator Simon Doull reckoned that senior batter Suresh Raina lost the loyalty of Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni after a poor performance in IPL 2021.

With 4687 runs from 171 innings, Raina is the leading run-scorer of the Yellow army and also appeared in 200 games for the franchise only behind MS Dhoni (214). Raina also has 39 fifties and one hundred next to his name in his illustrious IPL career and he missed only one season in IPL 2020 due to personal reasons.

Suresh Raina didn’t get picked in IPL 2022 auction

Raina happened to share a great level of camaraderie with Dhoni during their playing times both at the national team and in the CSK camp. Raina’s loyalty towards Dhoni was such that he immediately announced his retirement from international cricket just hours after the veteran skipper made it to the public on August 15, 2020.

Raina wasn’t active in any kind of competitive cricket after retiring from international cricket, he entered the IPL 2021 with a lack of preparation and fitness which was evident in his performance, he amassed 160 runs from 12 innings at an all-time low average of 17.77. Raina was ignored in the recently concluded IPL 2022 auction by all the franchise teams.

Suresh Raina lost the loyalty of MS Dhoni: Simon Doull

Doull, who played 32 Tests and 42 ODI matches for New Zealand from 1992-2000, noted that Raina was unable to play the short ball and wasn’t promising to keep his fitness at his best.

“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,” Doull told Cricbuzz.

Raina was part of CSK’s title-winning campaigns in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021, he also led the team in six matches when Dhoni was unavailable to play.

Also Read: IPL Auction 2022: Sunil Gavaskar Explains The Reason Behind Suresh Raina’s Snub By Franchises