No player can replace Suresh Raina in CSK: Shane Watson.

Chennai Super Kings moved to the UAE to prepare for the Indian Premier League’s 13th season and seemed to be in full flow with vice-captain Suresh Raina and captain MS Dhoni leading the charge.

But news that Raina will have to return to India for personal reasons soon emerged. Why Raina returned to India was not stated, but there had been many floating reports about the matter.

Raina’s absence will be a big loss to CSK as he’s been an important part of their past success with consistent middle-order results.

Team management will have to deal with his absence and bring someone else to keep the batting department.
Shane Watson recently spoke of Raina’s exit, saying that it will be difficult to replace the batsman in the upcoming season because of his impressive record in the IPL.

“We got to (deal with Raina’s absence, Harbhajan). As with all IPL teams, the best thing with CSK is that they’ve got a lot of depth.

Suresh Raina would be extremely hard to replace. You simply can’t. He scored the second-most IPL runs and played the most matches in the history of IPL.

He’s got records left, right and centre, “Watson said on a Nabeel Hashmi-hosted YouTube broadcast.

“He’s going to be missed hugely, knowing the climate in the UAE are warmer, more chances of wickets being drier, and turning a little bit more. Raina also plays extremely well on the spin.

But it’s not as if Watson doesn’t have a player in mind who could take Raina’s place for the season ahead. Watson feels that Murali Vijay is a competent batsman who has what it takes to win at the UAE for CSK.

“No doubt he’s a huge loss [Raina], but we’ve got somebody like Murali Vijay, who’s a gun player. He hasn’t had many chances in T20 cricket in the last few years.

Yet he is a very good batsman. Last year he was still on the sidelines, he might be having more chances this year, “Watson said.

CSK is opening their campaign against defending Mumbai Indians champions on September 19.