IPL 2020: CSK's Suresh Raina to miss entire tournament, heads home due to 'personal reasons'

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batsman Suresh Raina will return to India from UAE and will miss the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 tournament. According to a statement from KS Viswanathan, the CEO of the franchise, Raina will not play in the tournament due to personal reasons.

File image of Suresh Raina. SportzPics

"Suresh Raina has returned to India for personal reasons and will be unavailable for the remainder of the IPL season. Chennai Super Kings offers complete support to Suresh and his family during this time," the statement read.

Before leaving for UAE to play in the IPL, Raina announced his retirement from international cricket. Raina has been a consistent performer with the bat for the Chennai-based team, scoring most number of runs for the team – 4527.

In 2016, Raina had missed his first IPL match, when part of Gujarat Lions, to be with his wife and newborn daughter. Two years later, he missed his first match for CSK due to a calf muscle injury.

While it is expected that Raina will be issuing a statement later in the day, sources close to the franchise said that one of the biggest draws in IPL desperately needs some downtime to be with his young family at the moment.

CSK's quarantine period in Dubai has already been extended till 1 September.

"Suresh's absence will be a big blow for the CSK and also, he is one of the biggest draws in IPL. But in these times, if any player doesn't feel 100 per cent and has some other pressing priorities, any team respects that and CSK is no different," a senior IPL official privy to development in CSK camp told news agency PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)