Former
Indian opener Gautam Gambhir said Suresh Raina’s departure from the Indian
Premier League (IPL) sets up the perfect opportunity for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to bat higher
up the order, at number three or four.

Raina
withdrew from the 13th edition of the IPL last week citing ‘personal
reasons’.

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Gambhir believes
this presents an opportunity to shuffle the batting order and allow Dhoni, who has
been away from the game since India’s semi-final loss to New Zealand in last
year’s ODI World Cup, to spend more time on the pitch.

“It will be
a good opportunity for Dhoni to come and bat at number three. He has always
said that he wants to come and bat at number three, four, so this is an ideal
time as well,” Gambhir said on Star Sports’s Cricket Connected show on Monday.

“He’s been
away from the game for the last one year, so he would end up getting a lot more
balls to face and he can play the anchor innings as well, which he has been doing
for India for the last couple of years.”

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The
Delhi-born southpaw said that Chennai Super Kings have depth in their middle order
with players like Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo and Sam Curran.

“It is
going to be a great opportunity for MS Dhoni and I am sure he is going to
relish that. Suresh Raina not being there, you want to have an experienced
player batting at number three and it could be MS Dhoni now,” Gambhir said.

Both Raina and Dhoni announced their retirement from international cricket on
August 15.