Suresh Raina set to feature in India's first-ever music league

Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina is set to be a part of India's first-ever music league championship, Indian Pro Music League (IPML). The league, which is a part of ZEE TV, will comprise of six teams from across the country.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) superstar will be the brand ambassador of his home state team UP Dabbangs on the show.

"Music or singing has always been my favourite pastime as well as a hobby. While playing, it has always given me a good company in between. So, I am just trying my hands on what I have always liked the most after cricket," Raina, whose singing talent has caught attention in the past, said in an interview.

Raina, who announced his international retirement along with MS Dhoni on Aug. 15, 2020, represented India in the sport from 2005 to 2018. He played 322 international matches (18 Tests, 226 ODIs, and 78 T20Is), scoring close to 8,000 runs at an average of 32.87, including seven centuries and 48 fifties, across formats.

The veteran batsman missed the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, but CSK will hope to have their star batsman back for the upcoming 14th edition of the tournament. The IPL 2021 is expected to begin in April. Without Raina, the three-time champions CSK had their worst-ever season in the IPL as they failed to make it to the playoffs for the very first time.

Meanwhile, the show's brand ambassador is going to be Salman Khan in a star-studded list of Bollywood stars such as Shraddha Kapoor, Govinda, Rajkummar Rao, Riteish Deshmukh & Genelia and Bobby Deol, who will feature as the Brand Ambassadors of their respective teams.

These 6 zonal teams will have the country's renowned playback singers as their captains. The likes of Mika Singh, Kailash Kher, Sajid Khan, Shaan, Ankit Tiwari, Javed Ali, Asees Kaur, Bhoomi Trivedi, Akriti Kakar, Payal Dev, Neha Bhasin and Shilpa Rao will be seen as captains on the show.