Suresh Raina announces retirement from all forms of cricket, likely to play overseas T20 leagues

Former India batter Suresh Raina has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The veteranbatter will not feature in the domestic tournaments for his state side Uttar Pradesh and will also not play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) going forward. Raina took to Twitter to announce his decision while thanking his former IPL team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the UP State Cricket Association.

Raina, who remains one of the best Indian players to have graced the IPL, went unsold at the IPL 2022 mega auction earlier this year after none of the franchises showed any interest in roping in the 35-year-old. Raina was part of the CSK squad in their title-winning campaign in 2021 before being released by the franchise.

"It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of Cricket. I would like to thank@BCCI,@UPCACricket,@ChennaiIPL,@ShuklaRajivsir & all my fans for their support and unwavering faith in my abilities," Raina wrote in a tweet.

The southpaw is one of the greatest batters to have played the IPL and will go down as one of the legends of the Chennai Super Kings. Despite not featuring in the IPL this year, Raina remains CSK's highest run-getter with 5529 runs in 200 matches across all competitions at an average of 33.10 and a strike rate of 138.91, including two centuries and an impressive 38 fifties.

Known as the Chinna Thala for his exploits with CSK, Raina has a total of 5528 runs in IPL in 205 matches and is the fifth highest run-getter of all time in the history of the competition. Raina spent total of 12 seasons with CSK helping the team win four IPL titles and two Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014.

Raina led Gujarat Lions for two seasons in 2016 and 2017 when CSK were banned from the IPL. He announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15 in 2020. His retirement announcement had come an hour after former India captain MS Dhoni's decision to retire. Raina played18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is in international cricket and also led India on a few occasions in Dhoni's absence.

Raina is likely to feature in a few overseas leagues after announcing his retirement from all forms of cricket. The former India batter has already obtained aNo Objection Certificate (NOC) from theUttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) and has offers from T20 leagues in South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE.

“I want to continue playing cricket for two or three years. There are some exciting youngsters who are coming through the ranks of Uttar Pradesh cricket. I have already taken my No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). I have informed BCCI secretary Jay Shah and vice-president Rajiv Shukla about my decision,” Raina was quoted as saying by Dainik Jagran.

“I will play in the Road Safety Series. T20 franchises from South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE have contacted me but I am yet to take any decision,” said Raina, who has been training at the RPL cricket ground in Ghaziabad for the past one year," he added.