“He’ll be the first guy they will go after”: Robin Uthappa reckons Suresh Raina would be certain pick for CSK during IPL 2022 mega auction

Robin Uthappa reckons Suresh Raina would surely be bought back by CSK during the IPL 2022 mega auctions next year in January.

After perhaps spending scores of hours in brainstorming as to who and how many players should be retained ahead of the mega auctions, the eight IPL franchises have selected a total of 27 players (19 Indian and eight overseas) to end the retention event for IPL 2022.

Four IPL teams- Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI), and Delhi Capitals (DC) have retained the maximum permissible limit of four players.

Rajasthan Royals (RR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), and and Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have retained three players each, while the Punjab Kings (PBKS) only retained a couple of players from their 2021 IPL squad. The PBKS in fact, were the only team who did not retain even a single overseas player ahead of the 2022 mega auctions.

Talking specifically about the CSK retentions, having gone for Ravindra Jadeja (INR 16 Crores), MS Dhoni (INR 12 Crores), Moeen Ali (INR 8 Crores), and Ruturaj Gaikwad (6 Crores), they did leave out some of their successful players over the years- including their veteran batter Suresh Raina.

While the prospect of the CSK management buying back Raina in the auctions looks slim, Raina’s fellow teammate in Yellow, Robin Uthappa believes otherwise.

Robin Uthappa reckons Suresh Raina would surely be bought back by CSK

During an interaction with Star Sports, former CSK wicketkeeper-batter Robin Uthappa not only heap praises for Suresh Raina, but was also almost certain that he would be the first players CSK would buy back in the 2022 mega auction.

He also added that it must have been a challenging decision for the CSK management to let go their successful batter Faf du Plessis, but Moeen Ali’s all round skills piped the latter’s chances for retention.

“So, Sureshi (Suresh Raina) has been a vital cog in the wheel, so I think he will be the first guy they will go after. Having said that, it must have been really difficult to let go of Faf but, I think the only thing that pegged it towards Mo (Moeen Ali) was the fact that he is a two-dimensional player, with both the skills, and unfortunately, they had to make that choice,” Robin Uthappa said.

But I am certain that they will go after Faf (in the mega auctions)because he has been incredible for CSK over the past 5 or 6 years,” Uthappa further added.

It is worth mentioning that Raina has been with CSK since the inception of the lucrative league in the year 2008. With a total of 5528 runs under his belt, he is the fourth-highest run-getter in IPL (all-time).

However, having scored just 160 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 125, coupled with a left knee injury in the second half of the league in IPL 2021, the 35-year-old was ruled out of the team.

It was in fact, Robin Uthappa who replaced his place in the side, and was instrumental in CSK winning their 4th title with a couple of brilliant knocks in the playoffs.