Suresh Raina shocks netizens with India return after sudden IPL 2020 withdrawal

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) face yet another setback as  'Mr. IPL' Suresh Raina has opted out of the tournament due to 'personal reasons'. The franchise on their Twitter account made the official announcement of Raina heading back to India and his unavailability for the whole IPL 2020 season. CSK posted a message of their CEO, KS Viswanathan, acknowledging the information.

Viswanathan extended support to Suresh Raina and his family during the situation. Raina is considered as an integral part of CSK's leadership group along with MS Dhoni. 

This development has left ardent CSK fans stunned. Suresh Raina, often referred to as 'Chinna Thala', is the most capped IPL player in history. Regarded as a stalwart of the league, he has amassed over 5,000 runs in the tournament.  The news of his unavailability left netizens shattered. The southpaw had announced his retirement from international cricket on 15h August alongside CSK captain MS Dhoni.

Why did Suresh Raina withdraw from IPL 2020 all of a sudden?

While family reasons has been mentioned as per the franchise as the reason of Raina's exit from the IPL 2020, there are speculations that COVID-19, hitting the Chennai Super Kings unit, might have led Raina to take this call. The three-time champions had reached Dubai on August 21 after which they were sent into mandatory quarantine by the authorities. The team was ready to kick-start their training from Friday but several contingent members tested positive because of which the team's quarantine period has been extended. 

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Out of the 12 persons tested positive, one is a current India limited-overs cricketer and the other 11 are support staff, officials and the social media team members. A league source revealed that all COVID-19 positive results came during day 1, 3 and 6 of testing after the contingent's landing in Dubai. 

CSK full squad for IPL 2020

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

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IPL 2020: Dates yet to be revealed

The league is slated to commence from September 19 and end on November 10. Considering the COVID-19 situation, this edition will be held in the UAE. All the franchises must comply with the stringent guidelines and SOPs laid out by the BCCI. However, the official schedule announcement could be delayed due to the current CSK fiasco.

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Image Credits: Suresh Raina Instagram