Suresh Raina gets inked ahead of IPL 2020

Before leaving for the UAE, the former India batsman decided to tattoo the names of wife Priyanka and son Rio on his arms. The southpaw had the name of his daughter, Gracia, already tattooed on his left arm.

Raina uploaded a photo of himself on his Instagram account after getting inked and his post read: "They give me a reason to live."

Raina, the second highest run-getter in the history of the IPL after Virat Kohli, had earlier said that wickets in Dubai could be similar to the ones in Chennai. He had also stated that fitness and clarity of thought will be the key when the players take to the field after an unprecedented break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This IPL would be very very interesting to see how the players are thinking. You are playing in different circumstances, you have a lot of protocol from the ICC and at the same time you are going through tests every two-three weeks. So I would say that to come out from all those tests, you need to be clear with your head on what you are going to do on the field, because at the end of the day when you are playing a sport, you need to enjoy your game," Raina said during a webinar interaction on the sidelines of the launch of a WTF fantasy gaming app.

"There could be Chennai-like wickets. In this pandemic, players have faced a lot of challenges and fitness will be the key.

"Luckily, we are going to the UAE early. I think right now it will be humid in Dubai and the temperature will be around the 40 degrees Celsius-mark. But the best thing in Dubai is that you don't face logistics problems. It is 45 minutes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, and you go from there to Sharjah in 40 minutes," he added.