IPL 2022 | Suresh Raina will be the first guy CSK will go after, reckons Robin Uthappa
Sharing his views on CSK’s plans ahead of the mega auction, Robin Uthappa believes that Suresh Raina will be their first priority in the mega auction as he has been a vital cog in the wheel. Uthappa further opined that Raina has played a vital role in the success of the franchise in the tournament.
IPL 2022 will feature a mega auction and the teams will be making their strategies to use in the auction. Also, two new teams are added to the tournament and it makes the auction process more interesting. Chennai Super Kings have retained Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad for the upcoming season going into the mega auction.Â
Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina are some of their notable omissions from the retention list. Raina has scored 5528 runs in 205 IPL matches with an average of 32.51. He scored 160 runs in 12 matches of IPL 2021.Â
Robin Uthappa believes that Raina has been the biggest stalwart CSK ever had and so the team management will keep him at priority in the mega auction.Â
“I think he is the biggest stalwart of CSK that we've had. He's been such an instrumental figure in helping CSK qualify to so many of the knockout stages in the last 10-12 years. Sureshi (Suresh Raina) has been a vital cog in the wheel, so I think he will be the first guy they will go after,” he said on Star Sports.
Du Plessis scored 633 runs this season and was the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament. He played a vital role in giving some solid opening stands to the team along with Ruturaj Gaikwad. CSK not retaining him surprised many as he has been an important top-order batsman for the franchise. Uthappa opined that Moeen Ali was given preference over Du Plessis as he is a two-dimensional player and has contributed in batting as well as bowling for the team.Â
"Having said that, it must have been really difficult to let go of Faf but, I think the only thing that pegged it towards Mo (Moeen Ali) was the fact that he is a two-dimensional player, with both the skills, and unfortunately, they had to make that choice and they would definitely want to retain a player with two skills. But I am certain that they will go after Faf because he has been incredible for CSK over the past 5 or 6 years," he explained.