‘MS Dhoni took my permission’: 36-year-old cricketer makes bold statement on getting kicked out of team

Near the close of IPL 2021, the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings made a difficult decision by benching Suresh Raina in favour of Robin Uthappa. Uthappa, who had just joined CSK, got his chance in a game against the Delhi Capitals. At the time, Dhoni had mentioned Raina’s injury at the coin toss. However, for the rest of the season, the player was never included in CSK’s starting lineup. CSK won the 5th IPL title in the history of tournaments. 

After claiming their fifth IPL championship, Chennai Super Kings have tied Mumbai Indians for first place. In the Indian Premier League 2023 championship game, they triumphed over Gujarat Titans.

Recently, the ‘Chinna Thala’, a former star player for CSK, Suresh Raina, discussed CSK’s accomplishments and the 2021 title-winning season, which was not the best for Raina personally.

Chennai won the IPL for the fourth time in 2021, however, Raina was benched midseason for playing poorly at number 3. In the 14th season, Raina had only amassed 230 runs in 12 games and was replaced by Robin Uthappa, who played match-winning knocks in the remaining games for the CSK but went unsold in the 2022 auctions.

“MS Dhoni took my permission to replace me with Robin Uthappa. I told him to play Uthappa as had worked hard to deserve a place in the team,” Crictoday reported Suresh Raina. 

The 36-year-old player disclosed that CSK captain MS Dhoni requested his consent before replacing him with Robin.

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