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Suresh-Raina
In the book "Believe", co-authored by Suresh Raina, the former Indian batsman opened up about his bond with Dhoni. He talked about how playing in the same team with MS Dhoni strengthened their bond. He also talked about how Dhoni had reacted when he was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
In the 2008 auction, MS Dhoni was bought for $1.5 million whereas Raina joined the team for just $650,000. His base price was set at $125, 000.
In his book, Raina revealed that after it was clear they would play for the same franchise, he received a text from Dhoni. Dhoni congratulated him on his selection and assured him that they would have fun playing in the league. The IPL strengthened his bond with MS Dhoni even further.
Both MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina announced their retirement in August last year, from International Cricket. However, the duo continued its play for their team the Chennai SuperKings in the IPL.
Suresh Raina had pulled out of IPL 2020 due to personal reasons. CSK had finished in the seventh spot in the league that year. The three-time winner of the league certainly felt the absence of Raina in the batting order. Many other players had also pulled out. So that factored in on the poor performance of the team.
The 34-year-old batsman returned to playing in the league this season
He scored 123 runs across 7 games. His average was 24.60. Raina had last-aged competitive cricket back in 2019 before the IPL 2021. He showed his talent in the first game of the season for CSK playing a knock off 54 off 36 balls. The match was against Delhi Capitals. His return along with some other players helped the team bounce back from the bottom.
Before IPL got suspended indefinitely, Csk was placed second in the points table. The league had to be suspended due to a surge in covid-19 cases in the secure bio bubble meant for the players. Suresh Raina is currently the third-highest scorer in the history of IPL. Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan occupy the first and the second spot respectively.