IPL 2021- Steyn on Raina's knock vs MI: 'He looked like a schoolboy cricketer'
IPL 2021- Steyn on Raina’s knock vs MI
Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn slammed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) veteran Suresh Raina after the southpaw struggled in the first game of the second leg in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Sunday.
The second phase of the 14th edition commenced in Dubai when CSK took on Mumbai Indians (MI). MI fast bowler Trent Boult dismissed Raina cheaply for a six-ball four as CSK struggled after MS Dhoni opted to bat.
The two-time champions CSK lost four wickets in the powerplay overs and their situation got worse when Ambati Rayudu got retired hurt after getting hit on his arm and never returned to bat. Courtesy of opening batsman Rituraj Gaikwad's 88 and hard-fought knocks from Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 33) and Dwayne Bravo (23 off 8) helped CSK to post a respectable total of 156 for 6 in 20 overs.
Steyn, who recently retired from all forms of cricket, criticised Raina for the way he played his six balls, saying the former India batsman looked like a "schoolboy cricketer."
"Boult started really well. That ball especially to Raina. He ran in and set that aggressive leg-side field. And you could see immediately that. He (Suresh Raina) didn't want anything of it," Steyn told ESPNCricinfo.
"He looked like a schoolboy cricketer at a point. I couldn't believe this was 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," the 38-year-old South African further added.
Despite getting off to a terrible start, CSK managed to beat MI by 20 runs. While Saurabh Tiwary scored a half-century, he did not receive any support from the other batters. Deepak Chahar bagged two wickets, while Bravo finished as CSK's best bowler with figures of 3 for 25.
Raina is among the five players to have played 200 or more matches in the IPL. Across his stints with Gujarat Lions and CSK, the 34-year-old has scored 5,495 runs at an average of 32.90. Apart from Raina, only five other batsmen have registered 5,000 or more runs in the IPL – Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, David Warner and AB de Villiers. With 6,081 runs, Kohli is the leading run-scorer in the tournament.