Suresh Raina’s retirement from the Indian Premier League last year took the cricketing world by surprise. In September last year, the former India batsman announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, thus bringing down curtains on his illustrious career in IPL as well as domestic cricket.
The left-handed batsman, who announced his retirement from international cricket in 2020, played in the IPL till 2021 where he was a part of the Chennai Super Kings’ squad. In 2022, he was not a part of the Chennai-based outfit and was instead busy with commentary duties.
He retired from the IPL as one of its most successful players. The 36-year old represented Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Lions during his IPL career. He plied his trade for the now-defunct Gujarat-based outfit only when CSK were suspended for two years.
The southpaw won four IPL titles with CSK in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021. He is still their top run-scorer with 4687 runs from 176 matches. In international cricket, Raina represented India in 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 18 Tests and was part of the squad that won the ODI World Cup in 2011. He was the first Indian batter to score a century in all three international formats.
Will Suresh Raina return to IPL as a player?
While Suresh Raina has announced his retirement from IPL, several fans are still hopeful of seeing him make a return to the tournament. And a journalist asked him a similar question after his fine 49-run knock for India Maharajas against World Giants in the ongoing Legends League Cricket in Doha.
His knock came off 41 balls and was studded with 2 fours and 3 sixes. Following the knock, the journalist asked him whether he was contemplating a return to the IPL. In reply, Suresh Raina came up with a hilarious reply. The former India batsman brutally trolled ex-Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi while making it clear that he has no intentions of making an u-turn on his decision. Afridi is infamous for coming out of retirement on several occasions.
“I am Suresh Raina, not Shahid Afridi. I have taken retirement,” said Raina with a huge smile on his face.
‘Suresh Raina Hu, Shahid Afridi Nahin’
Hilarious Reply From Mr. IPL ?@ImRaina #legendsleaguecricket #LLC2023 pic.twitter.com/GpV9uEa0wx
— Vaibhav Bhola ?? (@VibhuBhola) March 15, 2023
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