Out of favour Indian batsman, Suresh Raina warmed up well for the upcoming season of IPL with an innings of 56 off 29 in practice match at Chennai Super Kings’ camp.
The three-time champion team has already kicked off its preparations for the tournament and played a practice game as well.
Raina was the star of the match with his innings.
The Super #ChinnaThala innings from the Practice Match filled with #Yellove in the background! #WhistlePodu #Anbuden ?? pic.twitter.com/GELCBiNE9H
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 18, 2019
His knock included a total of six sixes and one four, that made the inning look glorious.
The former captain of the Indian cricket team, Raina will look to carry the form of practice game into IPL as well.
The upcoming season of the T20 league is a crucial one for him.
The middle-order spot is still vacant and should he perform well, he can earn a recall into ODI side after 12 months
Last year, his performances in IPL earned him a comeback to the national side after a period of two years as he replaced Ambati Rayudu, who failed the yo-yo test.
Rayudu is team India’s number four batsman for now, but his place is not fixed.
Should Raina or any other experienced batsmen do well, he can always make a comeback to the national side.
The #SuperPractice that was! A single innings affair where the Batting Lions took on the Bowling Lions amidst a turnout of over 12,000 at the #AnbuDen! And the Lions won by a margin of #Yellove to the power of infinity! #WhistlePodu ?? pic.twitter.com/wi3rQVBlgQ
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 18, 2019
Rayudu, incidentally, was in Raina’s team during practice match and he scored 40 off 25.
Dhruv Shorey batted well and played a knock of 43 of 26.
Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar bowled well for their team and took a wicket apiece for 23 and 27 runs respectively in their four overs.
The team is expected to play one or two warm-up matches before inking on playing XI for the 1st game of the tournament.
While few of the players have their place fixed in the team, practice matches give teams a chance to have a look at new players as well.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings play Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first game of the season on March 23 at their home.
Last year, Men in Yellow defeated Surisers Hyderabad in the final.
In fact, they had an undefeated record against them. In all four matches that these two teams played against each other, MS Dhoni and Co emerged as the winner.
Shane Watson did the job for CSK in the final with an innings of 117* in the chase to a target of 179.