Aakash Chopra Urges Suresh Raina to do a Shahid Afridi And Come Out of Retirement

Former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has urged veteran cricketer Suresh Raina to come out of international retirement like former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi – who did it many times in his career. Chopra also said that he believes that if he has a couple of brilliant IPL seasons, he could very well make it to the T20 World Cup squad.

“I would say please do a Shahid Afridi and come out of retirement. I believe that a couple of brilliant IPLs, maybe in the 2020 and 2021 seasons can well see Raina in India’s T20 World Cup squad. It’s possible, I sure believe it’s possible,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.

Admitting that the 33-year old has faced his share of injuries in his career, Chopra believes, the CSK player has come out fitter and stronger after his surgeries.

“Of course, Suresh Raina could have played a lot more, he had no need to retire. Now he is 33 years old and yes there were some injury issues but which player does not have injury issues? And now after surgery, he was fitter, stronger and better and in my thinking, he was itching to be back on the field,” Chopra added.

Chopra said that former India skipper MS Dhoni’s decision was understandable after the T20 World Cup got deferred to next year. He believes Dhoni would have made himself available had the marquee tournament taken place as scheduled.

“You can understand Dhoni’s case as if the IPL has taken place in April-May, the T20 World Cup would have taken place in October-November and maybe Dhoni would have been available for it. But maybe its postponement is the main reason why Dhoni retired. But Raina had no such problems to be very honest,” Chopra added.