IPL 2021: "This is certainly not the end of the road for Suresh Raina; he'll be used again" - Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes that Suresh Raina being benched for Chennai Super Kings' fixture against the Delhi Capitals doesn't mean it's the end of the road for the veteran southpaw with the franchise.

Speaking at CricBuzz Live, Vaughan stated that with CSK having already qualified for the IPL playoffs, the decision to bench Raina may have been motivated by the intention of giving fringe players like Robin Uthappa an opportunity.

Vaughan asserted that Raina will soon be back in the mix.

"Chennai just don't replace players. They just keep going and try to make sure they stay consistent. They give the player the backing and they back the player to come good. Maybe MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming, knowing that they have qualified, just want to have a look at Robin Uthappa. This is certainly not the end of the road for Suresh Raina, I'm sure he'll be used again."

The three-time IPL champions made three changes to their playing XI on Monday (October 4) with Raina, Sam Curran and KM Asif making way for Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar respectively.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni made it clear at the toss that Raina was rested because of a niggle.

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Suresh Raina's form has been woeful in IPL 2021

Once a run-machine in the Indian Premier League, Raina has looked a pale shadow of himself in the ongoing season.

The southpaw didn't have a good season in 2019. He missed last season due to personal reasons and with him not playing competitive cricket outside the IPL, it was always going to be difficult for him to hit the ground running at IPL 2021.

The fear of that happening came true as the former Indian cricketer managed just 123 runs in six outings during the Indian leg of the current season at an average of 24.6 and a strike rate of 126.8 with just one 50+ score.

If his performances during the Indian leg were underwhelming, the left-hander's returns in the UAE have been abysmal.

In five games, Raina has managed just 37 runs at an average of 9.25 and a strike rate of 119.35 with his highest score being 17.

Raina's replacement in the ongoing game against the Delhi Capitals, Robin Uthappa, also had a poor outing on his debut for CSK. He managed a run-a-ball 19 before being dismissed caught & bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin.