Chennai Super Kings fans were in for a shock during the recently concluded IPL Mega Auction as the defending champions decided to not bid for club legend Suresh Raina.
Raina has been a part of CSK since the inception of the league in 2008 - excluding the two years ban (20016 and 2017) the team faced.
Mr. IPL, as lovingly called by fans, Raina was not able to attract even a single bid during the Mega Auction this year and went unsold.
Despite the fact that Raina did not have a great run in the previous edition of the IPL, fans still believed that CSK would bid for the veteran cricketer as he's played a huge role in the success of the club over the years.
Former New Zealand cricketer and commentator Simon Doull opined as to why Raina was not picked by CSK.
During an interaction with Cricbuzz, Simon Doull said, "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."
Raina was released by CSK ahead of the IPL Mega Auction, while the franchise decided to retain skipper MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The left-handed batter, who kept his base price at Rs 2 crore, was ignored by all the franchises despite his success and records in the cash-rich league.
It must be noted that Raina flew down to India from UAE during IPL 2020 after the CSK camp was hit with COVID-19.
Though he was retained by CSK for IPL 2021, Raina missed the last few games of the tournament due to a knee injury.
Devoid of proper competitive cricket in the last few years might also be one of the main reason for Raina going unsold in the Mega Auction.
'Mr. IPL' Raina is one of the very few players to have scored over 5000 runs in the IPL. He has amassed 5528 runs in 205 matches, which include one century and 39 half-centuries. Raina is also a handy part-time bowler and has claimed 25 IPL wickets.
Meanwhile, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan stated that Raina's 'current form' was the reason behind the latter not being picked up by the club this season.
Viswanathan said that the team combination and form meant the left-handed batter could not fit into the team.
"Missing out on Raina...He has been a great asset for the side earlier. Considering the current form, he did not fit into the side," Viswanathan told PTI.