Suresh Raina has been part of CSK since the inaugural edition, except when they got banned.
Former India cricketer Suresh Raina, who was once called 'Mr. IPL', went unsold in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) mega-auction. Raina found no other bidder after his ex-franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) decided to not retain or buy him back.
Apart from the two seasons (2016, 2017) when CSK were banned, Raina has been part of the franchise since the inaugural edition of IPL. He had set his base price at INR 2 crore for the IPL 2022 mega-auction.
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The 36-year-old went unsold on Day 1 of the auction and no franchise showed interest in him during the accelerated round of Day 2. CSK had already used their 25 slots which ruled out the possibility of Raina donning the yellow jersey again.
Fans were used after Super Kings let go Raina, who is fondly called as 'Chinna Thala' among the CSK supporters. They were furious on social media, while some of the fans also posted emotional farewell posts for the southpaw.
Raina had the biggest fan following in CSK after skipper MS Dhoni. Their duo was loved by the fans but they won't get to see them playing together again in the upcoming seasons.
Here are the tweets from the fans: