Former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Suresh Raina teased his comeback to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after five years. Raina dropped the bombshell on Sunday when asked about a possible change in the CSK dressing room for the 2026 season. The moment took place during Chennai's final league match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which the former won by 83 runs. The update was shown live on television.
Raina joined former Indian cricketers Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar on the commentary panel. As the five-time winners finished last in IPL for the first time, the three talked about what went wrong for the MS Dhoni-led team this season.
Raina went on to reveal that negotiations are underway from Chennai to appoint a new batting coach for the next edition. Aakash wanted to know if the new batting coach's initials began with "S"? Raina then teased Chennai fans by saying, "He has made the fastest fifty," and bursting out in a laugh.
Aakash responded: "Chalo ho gaya bhai, you heard it first here!" (It’s confirmed, you heard it here first!)
For the uninitiated, Raina ranks second on the list of quickest half-centuries in IPL, reaching the milestone in 16 balls against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2014.
Raina has spend 12 long years with the Yellow Army before announcing retirement from the IPL. He amassed 5528 runs in the competition and is still among the Top 5 run getters in the lucrative T20 league.
Also Read | 'Is he even fit?' - Aakash Chopra-Suresh Raina engage in heated debate over MS Dhoni's IPL future
Former Australia cricketer Mike Hussey has been the team's batting coach since 2018.
The current CSK spin bowling coach Sridharan Sriram was asked for an update on the same during the post-match presser. “I don’t know. I have to ask him if he said that,” said Sriram.
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