Hyderabad: Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has expressed that Suresh Raina should make comeback in international cricket if he performed well in IPL. He also feels that he will be selected in Team India if he scores run in domestic games.
Chopra said that Raina still had time to make a case for himself ahead of the T20 World cup next year and appealed to the former India batsman "to do a Shahid Afridi" and reverse the decision.
"I would say please do a Shahid Afridi and come out of retirement," said Aakash.
"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," he added.
Raina announced his retirement from international cricket minutes after former India MS Dhoni did the same on Instagram. They are set to feature for the Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) that will be held in the UAE from September 19.
"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.
"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 said.
