Over the years, Suresh Raina has been one of Chennai’s key players. There is a reason why the fans of the franchise call him “Chinna Thala”. Alongside the bond, he has been an absolute match-winner for the yellow army and has played an influential role in several title-winning campaigns for them.
Yet, the franchise didn’t retain him ahead of the mega auction. While his poor returns in the 2021 edition could justify the same, their decision to not even bid for him during the mega auction was baffling, to say the least. Besides, no other team showed interest in him due to which, he found no bidders.
Hence, the fans were shocked to see Raina go unsold. This led to them speculating a rift between him and the franchise. In a shocking turn of events, Raina’s recent Tweet acted as a catalyst towards these speculations. He took to Twitter to congratulate Ravindra Jadeja on being named the new Chennai captain.
It is to be noted that MS Dhoni recently stepped down as Chennai’s captain and handed over the captaincy to the all-rounder. Owing to Raina and Dhoni’s close bond, everyone felt that the left-handed batter would mention the keeper-batter as well but that wasn’t the case. In his Tweet, he only spoke about Jadeja.
Absolutely thrilled for my brother. I can't think of anyone better to take over the reins of a franchise we both had grown up in. All the best @imjadeja . It's an exciting phase and I'm sure you will live up to all the expectations and love #yellow #csk #WhistlePodu
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) March 24, 2022
“Absolutely thrilled for my brother. I can’t think of anyone better to take over the reins of a franchise we both had grown up in. All the best @imjadeja . It’s an exciting phase and I’m sure you will live up to all the expectations and love #yellow #csk #WhistlePodu” read Suresh Raina’s Tweet. The fans were quick to notice the absence of the Dhoni in this Tweet.
As far as Raina is concerned, Â he will be seen doing the commentary in the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 league. On the other hand, the legendary keeper-batter will be playing under Jadeja, as a player this time around. It will be exciting to see the captaincy style of the 33-year-old. Owing to Chennai’s legacy, there will be a lot of pressure on him to recreate the success Dhoni delivered for the franchise.
