India’s veteran batter Suresh Raina has decided to hang his boots from all forms of the game. Raina has decided to retire from all domestic tournaments and the IPL, which will allow him to take part in the Legend League Cricket and the other T20 leagues across the globe.
The left-hander had earlier retired from International cricket on 15th August 2020 after MS Dhoni had decided to call it a day. In fact, Raina has not played any List A and first-class cricket since 2018. The southpaw played his last IPL match for Chennai Super Kings in 2021.
Mr. IPL, as he is known renownedly, was released by CSK ahead of the IPL 2022 auction and he was not picked by any other teams in the auction after setting his base price at INR 2 crores.
Suresh Raina wrote on his Twitter account, “It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of Cricket. I would like to thank @BCCI , @UPCACricket , @ChennaiIPL , @ShuklaRajiv sir & all my fans for their support and unwavering faith in my abilities.”
“I want to continue playing cricket for two or three years,” Raina was quoted as saying by Dainik Jagran. “There are some exciting youngsters who are coming through the ranks of Uttar Pradesh cricket. I have already taken my No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). I have informed BCCI secretary Jay Shah and vice-president Rajiv Shukla about my decision.”
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina is considered as one of the most consistent players in the IPL as he scored 5528 runs in 205 IPL matches at an average of 32.52 and a strike rate of 136.73.
Raina won four IPL trophies with Chennai Super Kings and he always played an instrumental role in the success of the MS Dhoni-led team. Furthermore, he took 25 wickets in the lucrative tournament.
The left-hander scored 6871 runs in 109 First-class matches for Uttar Pradesh and 8078 runs in 302 List A matches for his state.
