Kiwi commentator dissects why Suresh Raina was unsold at Auctions

Former New Zealand cricketer and renowned commentator Simon Doull has listed possible reasons behind veteran middle-order batsman Suresh Raina going unsold in the recent mega-auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Raina, who is one of the greatest-ever to feature in the cash-rich league, found no takers over the span of two days in the recent auction. Dubbed as 'Mr IPL' for his stellar performances over the years, Raina, along with MS Dhoni, was the heartbeat of the Chennai franchise. 

However, the events of the past two years may have led to Raina losing faith of both Dhoni, as well as the franchise, feels Doull.

"There are two to three parts to it. He lost his loyalty in the UAE, we don't need to go on (and talk about) why it was. There's enough speculation about that. He lost the loyalty of the team and he lost the loyalty of MS Dhoni. Once you do that, you're very unlikely to be welcomed back,” Doull said on CricBuzz.

The incident Doull was referring to took place in 2020 when Raina controversially pulled out of the season, citing family issues.

He did return for last year's edition but was eventually dropped for Robin Uthappa due to poor form at the business end of the season.

Secondly, Doull reckoned that since Raina no longer plays international and domestic cricket and given his well-documented issues against the short ball, he made a big mistake by putting his base price as high as Rs 2 Crore.

"You're not fit and you're scared of the short ball. You're not playing 500 USD for him in any auction,” reckoned the former New Zealand seamer.

“He's been an absolute great of the IPL. One of the leading lights in the first 8-9 years, but unfortunately time comes to an end. You do silly things and you pay the price," he added.

Raina remains the fourth-highest run-scorer in the history of the IPL. In 205 games, he scored 5528 runs at an average of 32.51 and a strike rate of 136.76 with the help of 39 half-centuries and a solitary hundred.