The veteran Indian batter, Robin Uthappa reckons that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will definitely be going after Suresh Raina in the mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. All the existing IPL franchises on Tuesday revealed the list of their retained players ahead of the mega auction for the 15th edition of the tournament. CSK retained Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad during the event.

During a chat on Star Sports show ‘IPL Retention’, Robin Uthappa said, “He’s (Raina) I think the biggest stalwart of CSK that we’ve had. He’s been such an instrumental figure in helping CSK qualify to so many of the knockout stages in the last 10-12 years.”

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He further elaborated, “So, Suresh (Suresh Raina) has been a vital cog in the wheel, so I think he will be the first guy they will go after. Having said that, it must have been really difficult to let go of Faf but, I think the only thing that pegged it towards Mo (Moeen Ali) was the fact that he is a two-dimensional player, with both the skills, and unfortunately, they had to make that choice.”

Talking about the retention policy of CSK, Robin Uthappa said, “And they would definitely want to retain a player with two skills. But I am certain that they will go after Faf because he has been incredible for CSK over the past 5 or 6 years.”

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Meanwhile, a couple of new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises — Lucknow and Ahmedabad have a budget of INR 33 crores to pick three cricketers who go back into the pool before the mega auction commences next month.