Will be competitive but maintain sportsman spirit against Dhoni: Suresh Raina

For the past eight years, Suresh Raina has thoroughly enjoyed his role as MS Dhoni’s deputy in the Chennai Super Kings. But with the franchise being suspended for the next two years, things are no longer going to be the same for 2-time IPL champions.

The IPL draft saw the Dhoni-Raina IPL partnership finally coming to an end. In Mumbai today, the Pune franchise was first to pick up Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while the Rajkot franchise were happy to rope in Suresh Raina.

When Raina was asked about his feelings on competing against Dhoni, he said that they would be competitive but at the same time maintain the ‘sportsman spirit’ while facing his former IPL captain.

The elegant left-hander has got the first-hand experience of playing in Rajkot during his junior level cricketing days which is going to come in handy for his new team. “I am very much familiar with the condition of Rajkot as I have played many matches in junior category like U-16 and U-19”, Raina said after the draft.

Apart from Suresh Raina, Rajkot also picked up local boy Ravindra Jadeja whose current form is top notch as well. Raina seemed really pleased to have him in his team as he said, “Jadeja is a local boy. Both of us are familiar with conditions here and we will use this to our advantage”.

These two Indian superstars can surely combine to form a force to reckon with in their new home ground during the 9^th edition of IPL which starts on April 9 in Mumbai.

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Written by Jishnu Battacharyya