Renowned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar spoke about the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Suresh Raina's form in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021). Raina was criticized heavily for his batting against Mumbai Indians (MI) pacers in CSK's first match of IPL 2021 second phase.
Although Raina did get some runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and remained not-out, it wasn't enough to put an end to CSK's worries regarding him. He has managed only 144 runs in 9 matches, which includes a half-century against Delhi Capitals (DC).
In a match preview for CSK vs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Manjrekar said he would go with Ambati Rayudu if he had to choose between him and Raina.
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"The worry for Chennai is that both (Suresh) Raina and (Ambati Rayudu]) are looking off-color; Raina more than Rayudu. But if I have to look at somebody who is a possible candidate for success going ahead, I'll go with Rayudu ahead of Raina," he said.
Rayudu has looked better than Raina this season and he played some important knocks for CSK. Even his strike rate of 180.64 this season shows the kind of intent he brings with him.
CSK are currently at number 2 in the points table and have almost sealed a place in the playoffs, on the other hand, KKR are looking to turn things around in the second half of IPL 2021. They have won back-to-back matches and jumped to the number 4 spot in the points table.
Speaking on the clash between CSK and KKR, Manjrekar said Super Kings may look to drop Raina from the side to add Karn Sharma, the leg-spinner in the playing eleven at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
"Chennai - on paper looking very solid - a lot of batting depth when you see someone like Dwayne Bravo coming at 8 or 9. Sam Curran will be back, and that will add to their batting. Chennai might look to make one change in their batting because the worry they have is in the spin department, and in Abu Dhabi, we have seen spinners come into play.
''That's where Imran Tahir or Karn Sharma could be looked at, but I doubt that Tahir will replace a foreign player. So what I would do is have Karn Sharma coming into the team and play Ravindra Jadeja as a pure batter and leave out Suresh Raina," he said.
