Demands of the return of Suresh Raina started after CSK lost back to back matches in the ongoing IPL season. CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan took on the question and said that he will not make it back to the side, but assured fans that smiles would be back soon.
“We cannot look at Raina because he made himself unavailable, and we respect his decision and his space. We are not thinking about it,” Viswanathan told ANI.
“I can assure the fans that we will bounce back strongly. It’s a game and you have your good and bad days. But the boys know what they need to do and the smiles will be back.”
Raina – who announced his international retirement last month – has been a pivotal part of the franchise for years and is the second-highest run-getter in the history of the tournament. Raina – who was in UAE with the team – pulled out of the tournament and returned to India after his family was attacked by unidentified assailants and his uncle was killed.
After the game against DC, which CSK lost by 47 runs chasing 176, Dhoni – who has faced backlash on social media for batting lower down the order – admitted lack of ‘steam’ in the batting.
“We are lacking a bit of steam in the batting and that hurts. The run rate keeps on mounting after such slow starts and adds pressure, we need to figure that out. We need to come back with a clearer picture, looking at the combination. There are quite a few things we can think about. We are one batter extra to start off, so the players need to step up,” Dhoni said.
