"He looked like a school-boy cricketer" - Dale Steyn reacts to Suresh Raina's horror knock against MI

Former South African pacer Dale Steyn was scathing in his remarks while analyzing Suresh Raina's horror show with the bat for the Chennai Super Kings during the match against the Mumbai Indians.

Raina looked completely out of his depth against a hostile display of pace bowling by Trent Boult. He unsuccessfully tried to slog his way out of trouble after being roughed up by a bumper in the opening game of the UAE leg of IPL 2021.

Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Steyn reckoned that Raina looked like a "school-boy" cricketer during his horror knock and that it was embarrassing to see a veteran international cricketer do what he was doing.

Steyn said:

"He (Suresh Raina) didn't want anything of it. He looked like a school boy cricketer at a point. I couldn't believe this is an international player doing what he was doing, almost embarrassing that he broke his bat and got out. Had that gone for six, maybe I won't have said that but it is what we saw."

Raina's torturous stay at the crease ended in an embarrassing manner as the southpaw was caught at point in a fateful attempt to slog Boult on the leg-side. The shot also saw Raina break his bat in the process.

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"It was perfect bowling, almost perfect Test match bowling" - Dale Steyn lauds Trent Boult and Adam Milne

Raina's dismissal was also a reflection of the kind of hostility and relentlessness that the New Zealand duo of Trent Boult and Adam Milne displayed during the powerplay. Steyn praised the pair for their excellent spells in the first six overs.

The New Zealand pacers rocked CSK's top-order to the hilt, reducing them to 7/3 and then 24/4 in the first six overs. The Chennai outfit were effectively five down thanks to Ambati Rayudu's elbow injury. Rayudu suffered a painful blow to his elbow courtesy of a bumper from Milne which forced him to retire hurt.

While Steyn reckoned that the Mumbai duo enjoyed some luck, he added that it was something they deserved given the manner in which they started off.

"It was perfect bowling, almost perfect Test match bowling. They ran in, they hit the length really hard. Couple of lucky dismissals too. The semi bouncer to Dhoni, who gets a lot of it and gets caught at deep square. Little things like that went the way of bowlers when they bowl well and Milne and Boult started really well," Steyn concluded.

However, the efforts of Boult and Milne went in vain as CSK, thanks to an unbeaten 88 (58) from Ruturaj Gaikwad and a brisk cameo from Dwayne Bravo (23 off 8 balls), recovered brilliantly to post an eventual match-winning total of 156/6. MI's chase was derailed by an inability to forge partnerships as they ultimately fell short by 20 runs.