Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina is a revered figure for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), having experienced tremendous success with the franchise. However, amidst the glorious moments, he also endured the dark period of the spot-fixing scandal during IPL 2013.
Raina asserted that the Chennai players were unaware of the spot-fixing and betting activities and believed none of the cricketers from the CSK team were involved in the scandal.
A prominent CSK official, Gurunath Meiyappan, was arrested on the day of the IPL 2013 final between CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI) in connection with the charges.
In an interview with The Lallantop, here’s Suresh Raina’s perspective on the entire controversy:
“We were players and had no idea what was going on. Players can’t do anything, even if they want to, because the anti-corruption system is very strong. You can’t even think about it. You’d be in jail if you do something like that.”
Because of the scandal, Chennai Super Kings got punished by being banned from playing in the IPL for two years, in 2016 and 2017. The Justice Lodha Committee found Meiyappan guilty and banned him from attending any games organized by the BCCI for life.
Suresh Raina’s comments on his withdrawal from IPL 2020
There was widespread speculation about Suresh Raina’s departure from CSK’s IPL 2020 camp to return to India. Some even suggested that Raina was unhappy about not receiving accommodations as luxurious as Dhoni’s.
However, the former cricketer dismissed these rumors and addressed the actual reason for his absence from IPL 2020.
“I had gone to Punjab because there was a death in my family. My uncle’s whole family was killed by a gang. There was a bio bubble, so couldn’t join the team again.”
“I thought that it’s okay, I would play some other time in the future; family is more important. I had also informed the owner and Dhoni bhai about it,” said Raina.
Raina rejoined the CSK team for the IPL 2021 season and secured the fourth IPL title with the Men in Yellow.
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