November 27, 1986, saw the birth of retired Indian cricketer Suresh Raina. As the first Indian cricketer to do so, he holds the record for most centuries scored in any of the three international cricket formats. The Indian cricket team occasionally used him as a stand-in skipper. Occasionally, Raina bowl as an off-spinner and be an aggressive left-handed hitter.

Raina is also one of the youngest cricketers, leading India's national side in international competition. As a member of the Uttar Pradesh cricket team, he began his cricket career by competing in the local league.

The Indian Premier League has seen a lot of activity from him. Additionally, before his IPL retirement, Suresh Raina held the positions of vice-captain for the Chennai Super Kings and captain for the Gujarat Lions. On August 15, 2020, he decided to stop playing international cricket.

Pre-Cricket Life

In Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh, Suresh Raina was born to a family of Kashmiri pandits. Rajnagar is a section in Ghaziabad City where Suresh Raina resides. He attends a boarding school for his entire academic career.

Private Life

The Jammu and Kashmir tribe known as "Rainawari" includes Raina's relatives. Trilokchand Raina and Parvesh Raina are the names of Suresh Raina's parents. His father was an officer in an ordinance plant and had experience with the Indian Army. However, with the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in the late 1990s, Raina's family relocated to Muradnagar in the Ghaziabad region of Uttar Pradesh.

Additionally, Suresh Raina has two siblings—a sister and an older brother. Dinesh Raina, his older brother, is an Indian Army soldier. Suresh Raina attended the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College in Lucknow from 1998 to 1998.

During a heist at their Punjabi home, the criminals viciously beat Raina's uncle Ashok Kumar. Unfortunately, the attack proved devastating, and his uncle passed away. He decided to stay with his family during this trying period and withdrew from the Indian Premier League 2020 as soon as the incident occurred. Since their wedding day on April 3, 2015, Raina and Priyanka have been happily married. They also have a son and a daughter.

Playing Style

Middle-order left-handed batter Suresh Raina has an aggressive demeanor regarding his batting approach. He has had success in all cricket formats besides test cricket because of his aggressive batting approach. On occasion, Suresh Raina bowls as an off-break bowler.

He received a lot of flak for his vulnerability to short-pitched balls. Due to this flaw, he battled a lot, especially in domestic cricket competitions like the Ranji Trophy. He typically played inside-out off-drive smashes and scored most of his career runs at the mid-wicket on-side region. He excels at hitting the ball offside because he makes space for himself.

Journey Until World Cup

At first, Suresh Raina wasn't in good enough shape to earn a spot on the team. For the first few months of 2011, Suresh Raina did not participate in any games and sat on the bench. Thus Mahendra Singh Dhoni chose Yousuf Patan in his place. Later, Virender Sehwag suffered a serious injury, and Raina was brought in to replace him. Raina consistently outperformed the West Indies.

After observing Raina's performance, team captain Dhoni came up with a fresh plan and decided to start Suresh Raina instead of Yusuf Patan in the quarterfinal matchup with Australia's reigning champions. As a result, Raina was crucial; he contributed 34 runs off of 28 balls and provided Yuvraj Singh with a long-lasting partnership. Furthermore, he gave an outstanding effort against Pakistan in the semifinal game. With the help of the tailenders, he helped the team reach the final total of 260 runs with a contribution of 36 runs. India ultimately won the World Cup quarterfinals as a result of this.

He was instrumental in the semifinal game by taking Younis Khan's catch off Yuvraj Singh's bowling. This contributed to Team India's victory at the 2011 ICC World Cup. According to Gary Kirsten, the coach, Raina "won the world cup for us with some important knocks."

After the World Cup, India went on a tour of the West Indies. Due to Vice-Captain Virender Sehwag's injury and Captain MS Dhoni's rest, Gautam Gambhir led the ODI and T20, with Suresh Raina serving as his deputy captain. When Gambhir was injured and forced to withdraw from the competition, Suresh Raina took over as team captain, with Harbhajan Singh serving as his backup. In the ODI series, Suresh Raina averaged 16.4, and in the test series, 46.4. Former cricket greats highly acclaimed his leadership.

Residential Career

In 2000, Raina began his cricketing career. He relocated from his native of Ghaziabad to Lucknow to play cricket. Suresh Raina became the Uttar Pradesh team's captain after completing his under-16 matches. When he was under nineteen, he scored two half-centuries in his bouts. The year after, he traveled to Sri Lanka with the under-17 teams.

At sixteen, he competed in the Ranji Trophy match against Assam in February 2003. He didn't play any more games until the next season, though, for various reasons. In 2005, he was included in India's List A, next to Madhya Pradesh. In the game, he had sixteen runs scored. He represented several national teams, including India Blue, India Green, India Red, India Under-19, and India Under-16. He scored 620 runs in six games at the 2006 Ranji Trophy. Due to his subpar Ranji Trophy performance, he resigned as captain of Uttar Pradesh later in 2018.

His performance was so dreadful; he only scored 105 runs in 9 innings while maintaining an average of 11.66. As a captain, Akshdeep Nath took his place. To compete in the Under-19 Asian ODI Championship earlier in 2003, Raina also went on a tour to Pakistan. He was chosen for the Under-19 World Cup in 2004 and demonstrated his unrivaled performance by tallying three half-centuries. He just needed 38 balls to hit 90 runs, and the BCCI took notice, giving him a Border-Gavaskar scholarship for his overseas training at the Australian Cricket Academy. In 2005, he made his first-ever appearance in first-class limited-overs cricket. That season, he scored 645 runs at an astounding average of 53.75.

Premier League of India

In the 2010 IPL, Suresh Raina was one of the top players for the Chennai Super Kings. Even before the 2010 IPL season finale, he was given the BCCI's "Best Fielder" title. In the season's penultimate game against the Mumbai Indians, he had a significant impact.

One of the key factors in the Chennai Super Kings' victory over Mumbai Indians was Raina's game-changing half-century, which ultimately turned the entire game in their favor. Consequently, they became the IPL 2010 champions. Additionally, as a result of his outstanding performance in the 2010 season, he was included in the Cricinfo IPL XI. He even appeared in the Cricinfo CLT20 XI for his outstanding 2013 performances.

According to Cricket Sports records, he came so close to setting a record for the fastest 100 runs ever achieved in cricket on May 30, 2014. He played brilliantly in the second qualifier against Kings XI Punjab, scoring 87 runs merely out of 25 balls. Sadly, he was outfield during the game and missed making history by a mere 13 runs.

He got a contract with the Gujarat Lions squad in 2016 due to the Chennai Super Kings club's suspension. In addition to leading the club in runs scored (399), he served as captain for the 2016 campaign. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Indian Premier League, he was included in the all-time Cricinfo IPL XI. Additionally, he was included in the 2017 Cricbuzz IPL XI team.

After being suspended, his former side, Chennai Super Kings, returned to the competition. In IPL 2018, the franchise paid an outrageous sum of Eleven Crore Indian Rupees ($1.7 million) to sign Raina. Unfortunately, the tournament's second game saw Raina sustain a major calf injury, forcing him to miss the following two contests.

On March 23, 2019, the opening day of the Indian Premier League's 12th season, he achieved this milestone against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the IPL to be played in the United Arab Emirates later in 2020. Raina traveled to the UAE to represent Chennai Super Kings. However, he was forced to leave the team in the middle of the campaign owing to the passing of a relative.

On the list of athletes that participated in 200 games of the Indian Premier League in 2021 was Suresh Raina. He joins MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, and Rohit Sharma as the fourth player in IPL history to make this list.

Worldwide Career

He scored 36 runs during the 2011 Cricket World Cup, which helped India win by 260 runs. In the India tour of England, Suresh Raina only managed to achieve one half-century (50 runs), and he also put on a very poor performance by only scoring 27 runs in seven innings. His weakness for short-pitched balls, which all of his opponents are aware of, was well exploited by them, causing him to suffer throughout the entire series. He broke the record for playing the greatest period without scoring a run during the final test of the competition by managing to play 29 balls without doing so. In that final test, he was ducked out after playing for the most balls in India's Test history—about 29.

Yuvraj Singh replaced Raina in India's international squad after making a comeback during England's tour to India following his cancer recovery. He contributed to India's victory with five wickets left to spare in the third ODI of India's 2012 tour of Sri Lanka by scoring 65 runs off of 45 balls. Additionally, as a result of his outstanding performance, he was also given the Man of the Match award. In addition to his performance in the third ODI, he had a poor track record of consistency, scoring just one run each game.

In 2012, the International Cricket Council selected him as the 12th "Team of the Tournament" member for the T20 World Cup. He played so admirably in this game that ESPNCricinfo nominated him for one of the finest ODI batting performances of the year. He scored a hundred points against England in Cardiff during the 2012–2013 England tour of India.

Suresh Raina was not included when India faced the West Indies and played two Twenty20 International games. He joined the ODI team for a competition against New Zealand. He later lost his job due to health problems.

In October, Suresh Raina was put forward for the 2018 Deodhar Trophy team representing India C. Following their World Cup match in 2011, the Indian squad traveled to the West Indies. For ODI and T20 matches, Gautam Gambhir was appointed captain, with Raina serving as his deputy. Unfortunately, Gambhir was forced to withdraw due to an injury, so Raina took over as captain and Harbhajan served as his backup. Gautham Gambhir was then appointed captain since Virender Sehwag was hurt and Dhoni was taking a break.

Then, in 2014, he led the squad to 2-0 victories against Bangladesh during a series. India, however, was all out after batting for the first 105 runs in the second game of the same series. However, Raina helped the team win by 47 runs. Raina announced his retirement on August 15, 2020, following Mahendra Singh Dhoni's. There had been rumors about Raina's retirement.

Conclusion

Suresh Raina has been a successful and considerate player in the annals of cricket. He made a name for himself through his playing style, making him one of the greatest cricket players ever.

Biography