After Harbhajan Singh's contract was not renewed by Chennai Super Kings for IPL 2021, there is another major development regarding the three-time champions. Suresh Raina, who also missed IPL 2020 with Harbhajan Singh due to fears of the coronavirus, has reportedly been retained by the Chennai Super Kings franchise for IPL 2021. In a report by Indian Express, a Chennai Super Kings official stated that Suresh Raina has been retained and MS Dhoni will be the skipper but the franchise might release a few players. Heading into the player retention day, Chennai Super Kings have the lowest purse of Rs 15 lakhs but with Harbhajan Singh's non-renewal and the retirement of Shane Watson, MS Dhoni's side has a decent purse.
Suresh Raina has been leading Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in January. In the whole tournament, he has scored an unbeaten fifty but struggled for impact as Uttar Pradesh was knocked out from the playoff race in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. Suresh Raina is a vital member of the Chennai Super Kings batting line-up, smashing 4,527 runs from 164 matches for the franchise with one century. Suresh Raina retired from international cricket on the same day when MS Dhoni also announced his retirement which was on August 15. Without Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, Chennai Super Kings finished in the seventh position in IPL 2020 and failed to qualify for the playoffs of IPL for the first time.
No Harbhajan Singh
Earlier, Harbhajan Singh announced that his two-year association with Chennai Super Kings had ended after the franchise chose to not renew his contract. There were speculations that Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav and other stars would not be retained by the franchise after their poor show in IPL 2020. Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter and announced that he would not be part of the franchise.
Chennai Super Kings will be aiming to put the disappointment of 2020 behind and have a mixture of youth and experience if they have to stake a claim for the title in IPL 2021. This could be the final core of the team before the entire team is revamped ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction in which 10 teams will be part of the tournament.
