Three-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Chennai Super Kings will be looking to come out all guns blazing when they take to the field in the thirteenth edition of the tournament scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates UAE) between September 19 to November 10. Despite CSK facing a few obstacles over the past few days in the form of 13 members of the contingent testing positive for COVID1-9 and the sudden exit of vice-captain Suresh Raina, fans have stood by the side and have been giving strong support to the franchise.
With Raina back in India due to "personal reasons", the squad is yet to begin its training, which is expected to begin from September 5, according to Chennai Super Kings CEO KS Viswanathan. After Raina's exit from IPL 2020, talks about a replacement have been hot among fans considering the left-hander was an integral part in the team's batting line-up and also served the role of second-in-command after captain MS Dhoni.
Meanwhile, a fan had taken to social media to query the franchise as to who will be the vice captain of CSK now that Suresh Raina won't be seen during IPL 2020. The official handle of the team had tweeted out a reply that has since been winning hearts everywhere. The fan asked, "Leo who is our Vice Captain now?", to which, CSK replied, "Wise captain irukke bayam yen?" in Tamil, which loosely translates to "Why fear when we have a wise captain?"
Wise captain irukke bayam yen? 🦁💛
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) September 2, 2020
As of now, there is no word yet on who will be replacing Raina for IPL 2020, with right-handed batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad said to be the prime contender to fill the spot in the squad's playing XI. As for Raina, the star batsman has hinted that one should not rule out the possibility of his return to the UAE for the tournament. Speaking to Cricbuzz, he said, "I’ve been training even while quarantining here. You never know you might see me in the camp there again,".
Raina explained the reason for his return from the UAE to India as due to family reasons, which required immediate attention. "It was a personal decision and I had to come back for my family. There was something that needed to be addressed immediately on the home front," he said.
After reports started floating around that there was a rift between IPL's second-highest run-getter and the CSK management, Raina cleared the air and said, "CSK is my family too and Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) is very important to me and this was a tough decision. There is no issue between CSK and me,".