Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel feels with Ruturaj Gaikwad doing well in the domestic circuit and Suresh Raina coming back in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side will be raring to go in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Chennai-based franchise had a dismal outing in last year's IPL. The side finished at the seventh position on the points table. Raina had missed the IPL 2020 season after pulling out of the tournament due to personal reasons but will play in this year's league.
In the players' auction held on February 18, Chennai bought the likes of Moeen Ali and K Gowtham and Parthiv feels with so much firepower in the batting line-up one cannot count CSK out in IPL 2021.
"See, obviously they must be slightly disappointed that they have to get out of Chennai because they have got Moeen Ali in their squad, they have got K Gowtham in their squad," said Parthiv on Star Sports' show "Cricket Connected."
"Last year, what went wrong for CSK was that they were not getting enough runs on the board. Then, in the latter half of the tournament, you saw emergence of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
"And now with Suresh Raina coming in the squad. I think he holds key in the CSK line-up and we have seen what he has done throughout the years of IPL.
"With him coming back and Ruturaj Gaikwad doing well in domestic cricket and plus MS Dhoni, they're great players and you can't count them out for too long," he further said.
"He (MS Dhoni) had an indifferent season last year but as we saw how keen he is (spoke to him few times) and he is very determined to get CSK's ball rolling to start with," Parthiv added.
CSK have won the IPL thrice and are regarded as one of the most successful franchises in T20 history.
"These are the teams who have done well and they know that once they win the first game or the second game -- they can start believing again. So, it won't take much time for CSK to start the tournament in a positive manner," said Parthiv.
The Chennai-based side will start their season against IPL 2020 runners-up Delhi Capitals at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 10.