HE CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF 'SURESH RAINA' IN CSK THIS IPL” – WATSON 'HINTS' REPLACEMENT OF RAINA! DETAILS

The Chennai Super Kings team left to the UAE for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League along with Captain MS Dhoni and Vice-captain Suresh Raina. However, due to unforeseen and a sudden emergency, Raina returned to India.

Raina mentioned that he was returning due to personal reasons. His absence is a huge loss for the team. Following Raina, Harbhajan Singh also backed out from playing this season due to personal reasons. Hence the team is currently having to deal with their absence.

Shane Watson recently spoke about Raina’s departure on a YouTube show hosted by Nabeel Hashmi. He said, “We have to (deal with the absence of Raina, Harbhajan). The great thing with CSK, as with all IPL squads, is that they have a lot of depth. It’s going to be incredibly hard to replace Suresh Raina. You can’t. He scored the second-most runs in the IPL, played the most games in IPL history. He has got records left, right and centre.”

“He is going to be hugely missed, knowing the conditions in the UAE is hot, more chances of wickets being drier and turning a bit more. Raina plays spin incredibly well as well.”

“No doubt he [Raina] is a big loss but we have got someone like Murali Vijay, who is a gun player. In T20 cricket, he has not got a lot of opportunities in the last few years. But he is a seriously good batsman. He was sitting on the sidelines last year, he might get more opportunities this year,” said Watson.

Watson truly believes that Murali Vijay is a capable batsman who could take Raina’s place this season. CSK will be playing their opening match on September 19 against the defending champions Mumbai Indians.