The IPL 2016 is going to commence April 9, Saturday. The fans, as we all know, will get to see two new teams who have replaced Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals for the next two years.
Gujarat Lions is one of them and one of most experienced IPL campaigners Suresh Raina is going to lead the charge.
Raina believes that Gujarat Lions are a talented side and they can put up a good show in the forthcoming season of the IPL.
The reason he said so was because he has a number of experienced T20 campaigners in his side in the form of Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and many more. Raina is definitely counting on them.
"Gujarat never had a team before, so it will be a great opportunity for the players and specially the youngsters. We do have best coaches now and also a few match-winning players, Bravo, McCullum," Raina was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India.
"McCullum did not play World T20, we wanted to focus on IPL, and this shows how much experience we do have in dressing room. This IPL will surely be exciting. So, I hope all will do well, we are looking forward to it."
Raina played for the now-suspended CSK for the past eight years in the IPL and admitted that it was difficult to move on from there. But the swashbuckling left-handed batsman has now been bestowed with the captaincy duties, which will be a good challenge for him.
"It will be difficult to get back the fans, like when you are staying in your house and then moving to the next house. But for this there are lot of challenges in our life. That makes a lot of differences. I have played for CSK for eight years, learnt a lot of things there from senior players," Raina added.
Gujarat Lions will play their first ever IPL game against the Kings XI Punjab at the PCA Stadium in Mohali Aprill 11.
