IPL 2021: "Hop, skip & jump" - Twitterati shocked with CSK batter Suresh Raina's horror show against the short ball

Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) senior batter Suresh Raina played an embarrassing innings of four from six balls in the IPL 2021 encounter against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Dubai on Sunday.

When Raina walked in, Chennai were already in massive trouble, having lost Faf du Plessis and Moeen Ali for ducks. Ambati Rayudu also retired hurt without scoring any runs after being struck by a short ball.

MI pacer Trent Boult attacked Raina with the short ball and the southpaw, despite knowing what was coming, looked completely at sea.

After awkwardly top-edging one to the third man boundary for a four, Raina perished soon after, lobbing a full, swinging delivery straight up in the air. A slice of wood also came off the left-hander's bat as he gifted a simple catch to point.

Twitterati were shocked with Raina’s unconvincing knock, especially considering he is such an experienced campaigner in international as well as franchise cricket.

Here’s how fans reacted to the CSK southpaw’s innings:

CSK got off to atrocious start after deciding to bat first

Earlier, CSK skipper MS Dhoni called correctly and decided to bat first in the match against arch-rivals MI. They got off to a horrible start though as Faf du Plessis (0) perished in the first over, slicing Boult to short third man.

Moeen Ali, who was highly impressive in the India leg at No. 3, also could not open his account. He toe-ended Adam Milne to cover point, where Saurabh Tiwary took a low diving catch.

Ambati Rayudu had to retire hurt after being hit on the elbow by a shorter one from Milne that did not rise as much as the batter expected.

After Raina came and went, things went from bad to worse as skipper Dhoni also could not last long. Dhoni timed a short one from Milne very well but could only end up finding the lone man at deep square as Boult was in action again.

Dhoni’s dismissal left Chennai reeling at 24 for 4 at the end of the powperplay overs.

Earlier, MI went into the clash against Chennai without their regular skipper Rohit Sharma, with Kieron Pollard standing in for him.

MI playing XI

Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

CSK playing XI

Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood