IPL 2023: Suresh Raina, Chris Gayle, Eoin Morgan to don expert's hat on auction day

Veteran India batter Suresh Raina is set to make a comeback as a cricket pundit on the IPL 2023 auction day, scheduled in Kochi on December 23. Raina is set to don the expert's hat and will be one of the panelists for Jio Sports. Joining him in the panel will be some of the elite names, including the likes of England's World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan and West Indies' power-hitter Chris Gayle.

Notably, Gayle did not express interest in registering his name for this year’s IPL auction while Morgan found no takers during the last year’s mega auction. He had led the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the finals of the 2021 edition where they went down to CSK.

Suresh Raina’s career as a cricketer-cum-broadcaster

Even though Raina had registered his name for last year’s mega auction after being released by CSK, no franchises showed interest in him at the two-day event as he went unsold. Later on, the southpaw went on to make his debut as a broadcaster and commentator and was a part of the IPL Hindi commentary panel for Star Sports.

Nicknamed ‘Mr.IPL’, Raina was the highest run-getter of all time in IPL history at one point in time and holds the fifth position currently, with 5528 runs from 205 matches averaging 32.52 at a strike rate of 136.76 including a century and 39 half-centuries.

Earlier this year, the UP cricketer went on to announce his retirement Indian Premier League (IPL) and since he was no longer contracted with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the southpaw decided to make a mark in overseas franchise leagues by signing up with the eventual champions Deccan Gladiators for the Abu Dhabi T10 League 2022. Raina had retired from international cricket in August 2020, having played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is in a career spanning a decade.

Read: IPL 2023: Predicting 5 most expensive players ahead of upcoming auction