Suresh Raina Registers For Second Season Of TNPL
Jun 16, 2017 at 9:14 AM
The discarded Indian batsman Suresh Raina has registered himself for the upcoming season of Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). The news has come on a day when he was not selected in the Indian team for the tour to West Indies, despite selectors giving rest to Rohit Sharma. They preferred Rishabh Pant over Raina, which has now seen clouds coming over his international career, which saw Raina signing for Grandslam CC, which is the first requirement to be part of TNPL.
The news was confirmed by Suresh Raina on Twitter –
Indian star @ImRaina has signed up with Grandslam CC and registered for TNPL #NammaOoruNammaGethu
— TNPL (@TNPremierLeague) June 15, 2017
Looking forward to play #TNPL at #Tamilnadu. Great memories of #chennai are always close to my heart! https://t.co/hJ35BWY5ao
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) June 15, 2017
This will be a homecoming for Raina as he was an integral part of now defunct Chennai Super Kings and never missed a single game for the franchise in the first eight editions of Indian Premer League (IPL).
Raina, once a permanent member of the team India, last played an ODI in the year 2015 against South Africa in Mumbai before getting dropped. He made a comeback to the ODI side for the series against New Zealand in 2016 but was dropped from the squad for the last two ODIs, without being given a chance. The left-handed batsman did not partake in the complete domestic season and played only three Ranji games. He was named the skipper of Uttar Pradesh for Vijay Hazare Trophy and Central Zone in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but he gave them a miss.
He was called in the Indian team for the home T20I series against England but wasn’t given a central contract by BCCI, which was a big surprise as Rishabh Pant was included on the list, which gave an indication that selectors are now looking beyond Raina, despite Rishabh being a wicket-keeper batsman.
Raina would be vying to perform well in the off-season tournament as this will be a preparatory tournament for him before the start of the domestic season, where he will be one of the players to look out for.
As per the reports, a total of 80 players have registered for the league, out of which only 24 players will get bidders. As per the rules of the eight-team tournament, a franchise can have a maximum of three outstation players, with only two of them getting a place in playing XI.
The draft for the upcoming season of TNPL will be held on June 23.