Gambhir eyes 'opportunity' for MS Dhoni in Raina's exit, wants CSK skipper to bat at no. 3

Eyeing an opportunity in disguise, former Kolkata Knight Rider's skipper Gautam Gambhir believes that CSK captain MS Dhoni should bat at number three after Suresh Raina's exit from the tournament. Gambhir highlighted that it will be a good opportunity for Dhoni as he has been away from the game. CSK's ace batsman Suresh Raina exited the tournament on Saturday and travelled back to India for personal reasons. 

“It will be a good opportunity for MS Dhoni to come and bat at No. 3. And he has been away from the game for the last one year, so he would end up getting a lot more balls to face and then he can actually play the anchor innings as well which he has been doing for India for the last couple of years,” Gambhir said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.

READ | Here's Why CSK's Suresh Raina Pulled Out Of IPL 2020 In UAE And Returned To India

Gambhir added that CSK has depth in their batting line-up and can afford 'the finisher' to come up the order. “MS Dhoni at No. 3 and then they have got depth with Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, all those guys they can come in. So, I think it is going to be a great opportunity for someone like MS Dhoni and I am sure he is going to relish that,” Gambhir said. The former opening batsman also reckoned that to fill in the void left by an experienced player, MS Dhoni would be a perfect choice. 

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Suresh Raina pulls out of IPL 2020

In a massive blow to the Chennai Super Kings, veteran batsman Suresh Raina pulled out of the upcoming tournament in UAE on Saturday. The franchise's CEO had confirmed Raina's return to India, however, he refrained from revealing the reason behind the batsman's withdrawal. Sources have now reported that the CSK star pulled out of the IPL 2020 due to the COVID threat that hit the franchise on Friday as 12 members were infected with the virus. Raina travelled back to India to be with his wife and his two children as the virus hit the franchise just 3 weeks before IPL 2020 commenced. Apart from this, Raina was also grieving the loss of his uncle who was killed in a robbery 10 days back.

READ | BCCI Issues Statement As COVID Hits IPL 2020; Says All Infected Personnel Are Asymptomatic

Earlier on Friday, PTI reported that 12 members of the MS Dhoni-led franchise had tested positive for the novel Coronavirus. On Saturday, another player of the franchise had contracted the infection. The BCCI on Saturday confirmed that 13 personnel have been infected with the virus including two players. The BCCI has also informed that a total of 1988 RT-PCR Tests have been conducted between August 20-28 and that all affected personnel and their close contacts are 'asymptomatic' and have been isolated. 

CSK 2020 Full Squad

Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay, MS Dhoni, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Monu Kumar, Shane Watson, Sai Kishore

READ | 'Scrap IPL 2020 At The Earliest': Bombay Activist Writes To BCCI, ICC As COVID Risk Looms