Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has recently said that former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni backed India batsman Suresh Raina a lot during his time. Both Raina and Yuvraj were featured in the team that won the 2011 World Cup title under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Yuvraj also spoke about the selection process and its dilemma that took place before the final against Sri Lanka in 2011 of selecting between Raina and Yusuf Pathan. "Suresh Raina had a larger support then, because MS used to back him. Every captain has a favourite player and I think Mahi really backed Raina at that time," Yuvraj Singh told Sports Tak.

He further added, "Yusuf Pathan was also performing well at that time and even I was doing well and was also picking wickets. And Raina was not in good touch then. They did not have a left-arm spinner at that time and I was picking wickets so they did not have any choice."

Suresh Raina was one of the regular faces in the Indian team in Dhoni's era as the captain of the Indian side but he became irregular ever since Virat Kohli took over the responsibility of captaincy in January 2017.

Raina last played in an ODI against England in July 2018. It was the only ODI series he was included in that year and one of five international series he was featured in 2018. His last Test appearance was way back in the 2014/15 series in Australia which was also witnessed MS Dhoni retired from the longest format of the game.

However, he is a regular face in the Indian Premier League where he plays for Chennai Super Kings under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. The 2020 edition of IPL which was earlier scheduled to start on March 29 has been pushed back until April 15 at first due to the global pandemic novel coronavirus outbreak. Later, it was postponed for the indefinite time as the lockdown of the country has extended until May 3.

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