Chennai Super Kings received a massive blow when Suresh Raina pulled himself out of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). A lot of talks have been going around in the media since then. Veteran all-rounder Shane Watson has admitted that Chennai will miss the service of Raina in IPL 2020.

Incidentally, Raina travelled with the squad to the UAE on August 21. However, things went downhill during the isolation period. Soon after 13 members of the Chennai Super Kings camp tested COVID-19 positive, fear gripped the former India international.

With two little children and wife back in India, Suresh Raina decided to return to the country and give IPL 2020 a miss. Since then, a lot of theories have been floated as the possible reason, but Suresh Raina kept mum. He finally revealed that it was due to the novel coronavirus, he returned as he was not being able to stay in peace.

Incredibly hard to replace Raina – Watson

However, Suresh Raina has hinted that he might return at some point to play IPL 2020. The southpaw has been training near his home and has been sharing photos and videos of the same. Meanwhile, Shane Watson has revealed that it is incredibly hard to replace Raina in the CSK side.

“We have to (deal with the absence of Raina, Harbhajan). The great thing with CSK, as with all IPL squads, 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. Raina has got records left, right and centre,” Shane Watson told Quetta Gladiators’ head of player acquisitions, Nabeel Hashmi, in a YouTube show.

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

The MS Dhoni-led side will begin their IPL 2020 campaign against defending champions Mumbai Indians on September 19 at the Dubai Internation Stadium.