Over the past few days, rumours have been making the rounds that Suresh Raina is all set to be a part of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) support staff in IPL 2026. Fondly known as ‘Chinna Thala’, the former India batter was booted out of the franchise after the 2021 season. CSK are aiming to bounce back after finishing at the bottom the points table in the IPL last year for the first time since the inception of the tournament.
Suresh Raina’s return to IPL 2026 ruled out?
Speaking on a Tamil news channel, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan confirmed that Raina will not be the CSK fielding coach for IPL 2026. The rumours stemmed from a couple of social media posts by CSK, in which the franchise stated that a major announcement would be made on March 22. However, multiple fans have speculated that Raina could join the team as a part of the support staff. These rumours have been dismissed. Raina was a part of CSK since the inception of IPL, and has been an integral part of the team, earning the nickname ‘Chinna Thala’, which puts him second to MS Dhoni.
“Suresh Raina is not the fielding coach. It’s a baseless rumour,” the CSK CEO said.
Towards the end of IPL 2025, reports claimed that Suresh Raina would return to CSK as the batting coach next season. The CSK legend was asked about the same on television and he kept the cards close to his chest.
CSK squad for IPL 2026
MS Dhoni (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson (traded in from RR), Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brewis✈️, Shivam Dube, Urvil Patel, Noor Ahmad✈️, Nathan Ellis✈️, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Jamie Overton✈️, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Akeal Hosein✈️, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma (wk), Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zak Foulkes
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