Want Suresh Raina to do an Afridi and come out of retirement, wishes Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra wants Raina to do an Afridi
|Taking a leaf out of Shahid Afridi’s book, Aakash Chopra asked Suresh Raina to reconsider his decision to retire from international cricket. On India’s 74th Independence Day, Raina announced that he would hang his boots, just after MS Dhoni decided to call it quits on his international career.
Suresh Raina, who is often sighted as one of the best white-ball cricketers for India, decided to call time on his international career, minutes after legendary cricketer MS Dhoni had decided to hang his boots on India’s 74th Independence Day. Raina was the first Indian batsman to score a century across all three formats, and on his day, could take the game away from the opposition in a flash.
Reacting to the retirement of two of India’s finest white-ball cricketers in the modern era, Aakash Chopra said that he would request Raina to do a ‘Shahid Afridi’ and come out of retirement. Chopra further added that Raina has few seasons of good cricket left in him and could be part of India’s T20 World Cup squad as well.
“I would say please do a Shahid Afridi and come out of retirement. I believe that a couple of brilliant IPLs, may be in the 2020 and 2021 seasons can well see Raina in India’s T20 World Cup squad. It’s possible, I sure believe it’s possible,” said Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.
The southpaw had knee surgery last year and was looking in good shape after his recovery. The former India opener said Raina, who announced his retirement only at the age of 33, could have played a lot more as he had recovered well from his injuries and was looking sharper and fitter like before.
“Of course, Suresh Raina could have played a lot more, he had no need to retire. Now he is 33 years old and yes there were some injury issues but which player does not have injury issues? And now after surgery he was fitter, stronger and better and in my thinking he was itching to be back on the field,” Chopra mentioned.
Chopra said that Dhoni’s announcement was kind of understandable considering the postponement of T20 World Cup but that was not the case with Raina. The southpaw, Chopra felt, still had a lot of time to make a comeback into the Indian side.
“You can understand Dhoni’s case as if the IPL has taken place in April-May, the T20 World Cup would have taken place in October-November and maybe Dhoni would have been available for it. But maybe its postponement is the main reason why Dhoni retired. But Raina had no such problems to be very honest,” Chopra added.
Both Dhoni and Raina announced their decisions to retire via Instagram posts. Raina and Dhoni may not be seen in India colors again but fans would be able to catch them in action in IPL 2020, when they turn up to play for Chennai Super Kings.
IPL 2020 is set to begin from September 19, and the final of the tournament will be played on November 10. CSK’s India players including Dhoni and Raina landed in Dubai on Friday. They would begin training after spending six days in quarantine.
