IPL 2021 Auctions – Suresh Raina to play IPL 2021 : Former India and Chennai Super Kings is all geared up to resurrect his Indian Premier League career. Raina gave IPL 2020 a miss due to personal reasons but has now confirmed that he will play in 14th edition of the league i.e in IPL 2021. Speaking to Dainik Jagran, Raina announced that he will be leading Uttar Pradesh in the domestic tournament. Apart from that, the former India batsman also confirmed his participation in IPL 2021. A regular for UP in white-ball fixtures, Raina had led the state team to a title victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015/16.
After nearly two years, Suresh Raina will be returning to competitive cricket as he will be representing Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2020/21. The BCCI is yet to announce the schedule of the 2020/21 season but it is confirmed that the board will be organising the T20 tournament before the IPL auction.
Raina decided to skip IPL 2020 and was subsequently released by Chennai Super Kings from his contract during the tournament along with Harbhajan Singh will have to take auction route to make it to IPL 2021. It is yet to be decided whether BCCI will be conduction full-blown MEGA AUCTION for the next edition or will it be otherwise. Whatever it is – for Raina, Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament will be the way forward to prove his mettle before the auctions.
Raina one of the highest earners in the Indian Premier League
Though currently Raina like most of the players is without a IPL contract for the next season, over the years he is one of the highest paid cricketer in IPL. Overall Raina has earned 99 Crores in IPL Salary till date according to IPL Moneyball by InsideSport.co. For more click here – https://moneyball.insidesport.co/single-player.php?id=10
Currently MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli are the only cricketers in 100 Cr Club. If Raina would have participated in IPL 2020 this year, he would have been the 4th Cricketer overall to join the 100 Cr club.
Raina hasn’t played any form of competitive cricket in last 18-20 months
Raina hasn’t played a competitive match since the final of IPL 2019. He was confirmed to return for the Yellow Army in IPL 2020 and had also travelled to UAE for the league. However, he returned home after 13 personnel in the CSK camp tested positive for COVID-19.
Harbhajan Singh was another player who withdrew from IPL 2020 – he didn’t travel to UAE. The franchise had removed their names from the official website and it isn’t known whether they are part of CSK or not.
When will domestic matches, IPL 2021 take place?
The BCCI is expected to deliver a final word regarding the domestic season and IPL 2021 after its AGM on December 24. The board hopes to kick off the season next month. Should it only host white-ball matches, the season might get over in February. But if the BCCI hosts Ranji Trophy as well, the season might extend till March.
IPL 2021 is likely to take place in April and May. The BCCI hopes to stage the league in India but it will only be possible if the situation remains under control.
The spike in number of COVID-19 cases forced the BCCI to shift IPL 2020 to UAE. It was for the first time after a decade that the complete season was played outside India.