Raina joins defending champions Deccan Gladiators in Abu Dhabi T10

ABU DHABI: One of Indian cricket's most decorated players, Suresh Raina has joined the T10 bandwagon and will represent the Deccan Gladiators in Season 6 of the Abu Dhabi T10, the organiser of the league said in a statement on Tuesday.

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. Raina will join the Deccan Gladiators squad and play alongside Andre Russell, Taskin Ahmed, Josh Little and David Wiese.

The four-time winner of the coveted IPL trophy, Raina has scored 5,528 runs in the league and played for the Chennai Super Kings, has also captained the Gujarat Lions in 2016-2017, scoring plenty of runs for them too. Raina, who is known as Mr IPL, has scored the most runs as a batter for the CSK franchise in the history of the tournament.

The former India cricketer was also a crucial part of the team that won the 2011 ODI World Cup in India, and has scored 5,615 runs from 226 games in the 50-over format and 1,605 runs in the T20I format while donning the national colours.

One of the cornerstones of many a success story for India, 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."

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."

The sixth season of the Abu Dhabi T10 takes place 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.