Raina to lead Rajkot team in IPL 9

New Delhi : Indian batsman Suresh Raina has been appointed as the skipper of the Rajkot franchise for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Keshav Bansal owned-side, which has also appointed Australia batsman Brad Hodge as its head coach, will be known as Gujarat Lions.

Raina, who earlier played for scandal-hit Chennai Super King (CSK), had never missed an IPL match and remained the league’s top scorer with 3699 runs at a strike rate of 140 in 132 matches, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The four other players in the Gujarat Lions at present are New Zealand batsman Brendon McCullum, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Australian all-rounder James Faulkner.

Earlier, Pune’s New Rising and Rajkot’s Intex won the bid of the two new franchises for the next two editions of the IPL.

The IPL 2016 Player Auction is slated to be held in Bengaluru on February 6. (ANI)