In the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Suresh Raina gave a huge signal that he will be joining the five-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) next season. Raina, once a mainstay at CSK, was crucial to the team's first four IPL championships.

Raina was not retained by CSK after IPL 2021 and was not picked by any other team in IPL 2022 mega auction. He therefore retired from IPL cricket and has been on commentary duty in Hindi.  

Raina was discussing how the season went for MS Dhoni's team while seated in the commentary box with former India cricketers Sanjay Bangar and Aakash Chopra during CSK's final IPL 2025 match against Gujarat Titans on Sunday. CSK ultimately prevailed by 83 runs. 

Raina went on to reveal that negotiations are underway for Chennai to appoint a new batting coach for the upcoming IPL season. Before he said goodbye to the CSK team in 2021, Raina had been there for 12 years. Aakash wanted to know if the new batting coach's initials began with "S."

In reply, Raina, who scored 5528 runs in IPL, teased Chennai fans, saying, "He has made the fastest fifty," before breaking into laughter.

Aakash then said: "Chalo ho gaya bhai, you heard it first here!" (It’s confirmed, you heard it here first!) For the unversed, Raina had scored a 16-ball fifty in 2014 against Punjab Kings, and is ranked second on the list of fastest half-centuries in IPL history.

Here is the video:

Suresh Raina - Our batting coach for IPL 2026 ???? pic.twitter.com/p0ugxGvxK1

— Cyrus (@CyrusDhoni07) May 25, 2025