Chennai Super Kings assistant coach breaks silence on Suresh Raina’s possible return after disastrous IPL 2025
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) assistant coach Sridharan Sriram has opened up on the possibility of Suresh Raina's appointment as batting coach after a disastrous season this year. Sriram, who has worked with the Australian men's team as well, revealed that he will have to speak to Raina if he said the same.
The Super Kings had defeated the Gujarat Titans on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad by 83 runs, but still finished at the bottom of the points table. Raina, who is now part of the commentary panel, was asked by Aakash Chopra if the initials of the new batting coach begin with 'S'. The left-hander cheekily responded by saying he made the fastest fifty, referencing his 16-ball half-century for CSK in IPL 2014 against Punjab Kings.
When asked by a reporter during a presser, Sriram answered, as quoted by India Today:
"I don't know. I have to ask him if he said that."
The 49-year-old showed optimism for the Super Kings, claiming that the think tank knows what went wrong and will do everything to rectify it.
"Really don't know what is going to happen, I think the good thing is Fleming and MS, Ruturaj. They've got a clear idea of what went wrong and what needs to be done. So I think the road ahead is quite clear, which I think is a real positive."
With the Super Kings forced to make changes to their squad mid-season, Sriram felt the likes of Urvil Patel and Ayush Mhatre have been excellent replacements. He stated, as quoted by The Hindustan Times:
"These are forced changes. There were injuries that happened, and we had to replace. Fortunately for us, the people who came in did well. I won't go back and dig too deep into it, saying we made mistakes at the auction table."
CSK played the perfect game on Sunday against the Titans as fifties from Devon Conway and Dewald Brevis propelled them to 230 in 20 overs. Later, Anshul Kamboj and Noor Ahmad took three wickets each to bowl the opposition out for 147.
Suresh Raina is still the highest run-getter for Chennai Super Kings
Raina, who played for the Super Kings from 2008 to 2015, followed by 2018 to 2021, continues to be the highest run-getter for the franchise with 5529 runs in 200 matches, including two centuries, with his average reading 33.10. In his presence, CSK won the title in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021.
The 2025 edition is the first time Chennai have finished at the bottom of the table.