Wearing this yellow colour is a pride that I have cherished all my life: Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina, on Saturday, made a stunning comeback to the Indian Premier League (IPL) by scoring a fine fifty against Delhi Capitals. It was Raina’s first game in IPL since the final of the 2019 edition. The southpaw had pulled out of last year’s IPL citing personal reasons. He had taken part in the pre-season camp and had also travelled to the UAE with Chennai Super Kings.

But just before the start of the season, Raina had decided to return home. Before leaving for UAE, he had also retired from international cricket. During the period between IPL 2019 and IPL 2021, Raina had played only five competitive games. But the lack of match practice did not stop him from hitting the ground running in IPL 2021.

The southpaw hit his 39th IPL fifty as he equalled Virat Kohli on the list of most fifties in the IPL. He reached the landmark with a six off Marcus Stoinis. Raina top-scored for CSK, scoring 54 off 36 balls with the help of 3 fours and 4 sixes.

Unfortunately for the former India batsman, his fine comeback knock went in vain as Delhi Capitals crushed CSK by seven wickets. Set a target of 189, DC chased it down inside 19 overs thanks to blazing fifties from Shikhar Dhawan (85) and Prithvi Shaw (72).

It feels amazing to be back, says Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina’s return might have been ruined by the result of the game but the southpaw has said that it was amazing to be back with CSK and MS Dhoni. Raina hailed CSK as the side ‘who have done so much for every person’. The Uttar Pradesh star also said that he takes pride in wearing the famous yellow jersey of the franchise.

“It feels amazing to be back with MS Dhoni and the Chennai Super Kings. It is always good to contribute to a side that has done so much for the players, who have done so much for every person. It is always good to be back and wear this yellow colour, it’s a pride that I have cherished all my life,” Raina said in a video posted on the official Twitter handle of CSK.

“A bit disappointed to lose the game, it could have been better, but like I said it is always to come back and do the Whistle Podu! It could have been better if we would have scored 15-20 runs more but I think we bowled better in the middle overs, in the next few days we will have a few good practice sessions where can we learn what to do better,” he added.