Former South Africa all-rounder Albie Morkel feels Suresh Raina's absence in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) will leave a massive gap in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team and that the franchise would have to make changes in batting order to get their balance right for the tournament starting on Saturday.

Raina, who has played 193 games for CSK, accumulating more than 5,000 runs, last month opted out of IPL due to "personal reasons". He had travelled with the team to the United Arab Emirates, but has since returned to India in a controversial manner.