Former India cricketer Suresh Raina has joined the T10 bandwagon as he has signed for Deccan Gladiators in Season 6 of the Abu Dhabi T10 League, the organiser of the league said in a statement.
Raina, who announced retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) and domestic cricket on September 6, will be playing his first-ever season in ADT10 and will play alongside Andre Russell, Taskin Ahmed, Josh Little and David Wiese in the Gladiators side.
Commenting on his association, Raina said, “I am thrilled to be joining the Deccan Gladiators and hopefully together we will be able to retain the title this year. I have been looking forward to this new challenge in the Abu Dhabi T10 and hope to put on a show for the fans and my team. This promises to be an exciting tournament and I am very excited to be a part of it.”
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi T10 COO Rajeev Khanna said: “The addition of Suresh Raina to the roster for the Abu Dhabi T10 is fantastic news. He not only contributes with his incredible cricketing ability and talent for the tournament but also brings along his wealth of experience and knowledge for his teammates. His presence will surely draw more fans to the be engaged with Season 6 of the Abu Dhabi T10.”
Team Owner Gaurav Grover said: “Bringing on board a player of the calibre of Suresh Raina is a very exciting prospect for the Deccan Gladiators. He will definitely add a lot of ability to our batting set-up and we are banking on him to score a lot of runs. Suresh Raina’s inclusion makes our side stronger, and we need as much of it as possible as we look to defend our title this year.”
In IPL, Raina has scored 5,528 runs in the tournament playing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He has also captained the Gujarat Lions in 2016-2017 and was popularly known as Mr IPL as had scored the most runs as a batter for the CSK franchise in the history of the tournament.
Notably, the upcoming sixth season of the Abu Dhabi T10 league will be held between November 23 – December 4. The Gladiators play their first game against Team Abu Dhabi on the opening day itself, taking the field for the second match of the day on the opening day.