Today the Chennai Super Kings suffered a body blow as Suresh Raina decided to withdraw from the upcoming season. Owing to personal reasons the mainstay of CSK’s batting has immediately decided to return to India. Now, this has left the CSK franchise is in a fix as they will now have to find a quick replacement for Raina for IPL 2020.
Meanwhile, everyone was amazed as no one predicted that Raina will no longer part of the much anticipated IPL season. The recently retired cricketer was in the best shape of his life and eager to stamp his authority again in the UAE. However, family always comes first and the veteran batsman made the correct call by flying back to his loved ones.
Now, who will replace Raina is a million-dollar question as now CSK need to find a player they can fill the massive boots of “Mr IPL” Raina.
We look ahead at 3 possible players that might board the flight to UAE and play for CSK as a replacement for Suresh Raina:
3. Hanuma Vihari
Considering his prowess against spin bowling with the bat in hand, Hanuma Vihari can be a solid addition to the CSK set up this year. The right-handed batsman has now even got exposure of international cricket as he has been a permanent member of India’s red-ball squad in the past year. In the IPL auction, Vihari went unsold at his base price of Rs. 50 lakhs.
CSK will be eyeing Vihari as he will be at home considering the slow surfaces in the UAE. On top of that, he can also bowl handy off-spinners which will surely attract skipper MS Dhoni.
So far Vihari is his IPL career hasn’t set the world on fire as he only scored 284 runs at a strike rate of under 100. However, the batsman now understands his strengths and weaknesses which will allow him to perform better in the biggest T20 league in the world.
