Besides striving for re-entry into India’s Test side, Suresh Raina has a new challenge on hand — to shape up the new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajkot.
On Tuesday, Raina, who until 24 hours ago belonged to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), was picked up by the Intex-owned Rajkot team for the 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons, which will see Sanjiv Goenka-owned Pune as the other new team in the fray.
Rajkot and Pune have replaced CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR) — the two teams that are serving a two-year suspension after their officials were found guilty of betting activities. But what the introduction of these two new entrants also did was end an eight-year partnership between Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
While Pune picked Dhoni as their first player of choice from the 50-men IPL Draft, Rajkot went for Raina, which meant the two CSK players will play for two different franchises for the first time in IPL’s history.
At the end of the draft, both teams had five players each and will complete the remaining squad in the February 6 auction next year, along with the other six franchises.
Raina holds a phenomenal record with CSK, having never missed even a single match for his former team since its inception in 2008. That wealth of experience plus his stint under Dhoni’s captaincy should work wonders in setting up the Rajkot team.
Former Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More even believes Raina should be the one to lead the Rajkot team.
“I will prefer Suresh Raina to lead the Rajkot team. I am not saying [Ravindra] Jadeja or any other player can’t captain the side but Raina will be the best option to lead,” Kiran More told CricketNext.
Apart from Raina and Jadeja, the think-tank led by Intex Director Keshav Bansal picked New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum and all-rounders James Faulkner of Australia and Dwayne Bravo of the West Indies.
More also felt that the challenge is a good opportunity for Raina to show his leadership skills.
“It’s a good challenge. Hopefully, Raina will get an opportunity to be picked as captain for Rajkot. He has spent eight years at CSK with Dhoni and must have learnt a lot of tricks of the trade from the Indian skipper. It can come handy if he is asked to lead the team,” the former stumper and chief selector said.
As first picks from the Draft, both Dhoni and Raina will take home Rs. 120.5 million.
“They [Dhoni and Raina] are professionals. It doesn’t matter for who you are playing. Just go and perform because you are a professional. They will be playing for different teams now. Pride will be there. They will try to win as many matches as possible for their owners. They are professionals and paid to play and they have to perform,” the ex-selector felt.
While Pune went for batsmen and big names, Rajkot opted for all-rounders, as many as four out of the five they were allowed to pick.
“Both teams have top-class players. Pune have batsmen-dominated players while Rajkot have all-rounders. Both teams are balanced but I feel the one with [the] strong batting line-up can get the edge as T20 is more about batting,” More felt.
“Yes, Pune have got a strong batting line-up. They have star players — MS [Dhoni], [Ajinkya] Rahane, Steve [Smith] and [Faf] du Plessis. [Ravichandran] Ashwin too can bat and he is in tremendous form [with the ball], but we shouldn’t undermine Rajkot. They have all-rounders who can prove effective in this format. They have McCullum, who can turn the game on its head single-handedly. They have Faulkner, who is magnificent in the death overs — with bat and bowl. [Suresh] Raina is a game-changer,” More said when asked to weigh-up the two teams.
Ashwin, under the leadership of Dhoni, has done wonders for India and CSK; and with both now set to play for Pune as well, it surely gives the New Rising group’s team an advantage. “Ashwin is a top-class spinner in all forms of cricket. Dhoni as a leader and Ashwin as a spinner will form the backbone of Pune,” More opined.
He added Dhoni’s knowledge of the game and domestic players will work in Pune’s favour.
“Dhoni is an experienced cricketer. He knows how to handle players and assess conditions. (I) hope that he continues in the same vein as he did during his CSK days,” the Baroda man concluded.
