Chennai Super Kings star Suresh Raina has finally opened up on his surprising departure from the team camp in UAE. Last week, the left-handed batsman dropped a bombshell by leaving the CSK camp in UAE to return to India citing personal reasons.
In the wake of the incident, there were rumours of rift between him and MS Dhoni and the rumours were further fuelled by franchise boss N Srinivasan’s statements. Reports suggested that Suresh Raina was unhappy with the room given to him and it was one of the prime reasons why he decided to return to India.
However, the former India batsman has quashed all the rumours as he clarified his decision. He maintained that he returned to India due to personal reasons and to be with his family before clarifying that everything is fine between him and Dhoni as well the Super Kings team-management. He also said that he is looking forward to playing for the team for the next 4-5 years.
“It was a personal decision and I had to come back for my family. There was something that needed to be addressed immediately on the home front. CSK is my family too and Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) is very important to me and this was a tough decision. There is no issue between CSK and me,” Suresh Raina told Cricbuzz.
“Nobody will just turn their back on Rs 12.5 crore and walk away without a solid reason. I might have retired from international cricket but I’m still young and I am looking forward to playing for them in the IPL for the next 4-5 years,” he added.
Suresh Raina also reacted to the critical comments from team owner N Srinivasan. Speaking about it, he downplayed the criticism and stated that the former BCCI president is like a father to him while revealing that Srinivasan was not aware of the real reason behind his departure.
“He is like a father figure to me and he’s always stood by me and is close to my heart. He treats me like his younger son and am sure a lot of what he said was taken out of context. Ek baap apne bacche ko daant sakta hai(A father can scold his son). He didn’t know the real reasons for me leaving when he gave those comments. Now he’s been informed about them and he even sent me a message thereafter. We’ve chatted about it and both CSK and I just want to get over with it,” he said.
He also said that he can still return to play the tournament, saying: “I’ve been training even while quarantining here. You never know you might see me in the camp there again.”
IPL 2020 is scheduled to start on September 19.