While there is still no official explanation for Chennai Super Kings star Suresh Raina’s decision to pull out of Indian Premier League’s 13th edition to be played in UAE, the franchise owner N Srinivasan has said his controversial comments about the player on Sunday were taken out of context.
Raina, for long seen as MS Dhoni’s trusted lieutenant at CSK, has returned to India according to a tweet from the franchise on Saturday. The decision was attributed to personal reasons.
The CSK camp based in Dubai reported 13 Covid-19 cases, including two main squad members. According to PTI, an IPL source said this development also played a role in the recently-retired India player’s exit from the event starting September 19.
However, on Sunday, it emerged that the team management was not particularly happy with the 32-year-old’s decision during mandatory quarantine and that former BCCI president Srinivasan was livid.
Speaking to the Times of India on Monday, Srinivasan said that his franchise will ‘always stand by’ Raina and that the batsman had their ‘complete support[.
“It is important to understand what Suresh is going through right now and give him space,” he is quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The quotes attributed to Srinivasan on Sunday created controversies. He said they were taken out of context.
“These boys, they’re family. They’ve been family for over a decade now. When I said ‘cricketers are like prima donnas’, it wasn’t in a negative sense. A prima donna is the lead singer in an opera. Similarly, cricketers are always at the forefront of an exercise like this,”
In an interview with Outlook magazine, Srinivasan had seemingly questioned Raina’s attitude.
Earlier, PTI reported that Raina’s stint with CSK seems to be in jeopardy as the franchise might part ways with him before the 2021 edition.
“He is unavailable this season and that is clear from the official statement issued by the CSK. Now there are certain things that have not gone down too well with the top people,” the source said.
“It looks highly improbable that someone who has retired [from international cricket] and likely won’t play any cricket will come back for CSK. Maybe, he will be back in auction and someone else might pick him.”
CSK management is banking on young batsman Ruturaj, who is reported to be one of the two players to have tested positive, to come good.
“CSK has not yet asked for an official replacement for Raina...they are undecided,” the IPL source added.
Raina is CSK’s highest run-getter with 4527 runs from 164 IPL games and has been an ever-present for the franchise. The Uttar Pradesh left-hander is also the second-highest scorer in IPL history with 5368 runs, second only to Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s 5412 runs.
CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan had confirmed on Friday that Raina had left the team and flown back to India due to “personal reasons”. While the cricketer hasn’t commented on the reasons for his exit from IPL 2020, it has been reported that Raina’s sudden decision to leave the CSK team was due to a tragedy in his family as well as the uneasiness of being alone in a bio-secure bubble.
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