Former Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) star player Suresh Raina and ex-head coach of Indian team, Ravi Shastri will be seen in a different avatar in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League which is set to start from March 26. It was learnt that the duo will be part of the Hindi commentary team in the 15th edition of the tournament.
A total of 70 league matches will be played from March 26 to May 22. The playoffs dates have not been finalised yet but the final will be played on May 29. The matches will be held across four venues in Maharashtra. Wankhede and DY Patil Stadium will host 20 matches each while the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai and MCA Stadium in Pune will play hosts to 15 games each.
Raina, who is popularly known as Mr IPL, failed to attract bidders in the mega auction and remained unsold despite being the fourth highest run-getter in the history of IPL. In a total of 205 match, he amassed 5528 runs which is infused with a century and 39 half tons. A 4-time IPL winner, Raina enjoyed much success during his stint with Chennai Super Kings. He is the former vice-captain of the Yellow Army and led the team in MS Dhoni's absence.
Meanwhile, former India head coach Shastri, who has not done commentary since the 2017 Champions Trophy, will also make a comeback to commentary and for the first time, he will be seen doing commentary in the Hindi. He left team India’s coaching duties after completing his second term in 2021. Shastri was also approached by a couple of IPL teams for coaching roles, however, the deal didn’t go to any successful positive result.
“You all know that Raina won’t be a part of the IPL this time but we somehow wanted to link him with the tournament. He has a massive fan following and there is a reason why he is known as Mr. IPL. As for Shastri, he was part of the Star Sports English commentary team. But he didn’t commentate after the final of Champions Trophy in 2017 as he became India’s head coach,” an IPL source said while speaking to Jagran.
