12 Facts about Suresh Raina - The Spirited Indian Southpaw

Suresh Raina has been an integral part of the national team’s batting line-up in limited-overs cricket after bursting into the international arena as immensely talented 19-year-old. The middle order batsman’s stats may not look highly impressive, but his contributions for India is invaluable and cannot be compared with stats. He usually plays the supporting role to MS Dhoni and anchors the Indian innings coming in usually when the situation is tough for the team.

Raina is well-known for his aggressive batting and ability to win matches out of nowhere. He has a strong fan following due to his explosive batting. Ever since the beginning of his career, he has looked to achieve something big and has been successful so far. Here are some interesting and rarely known aspects and facts about Suresh Raina.

1. Born on:

Suresh Raina was born on November 27, 1986 in the town of Muradnagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

2. Son of a military officer:

His father, Trilok Chand, is a retired military officer from Jammu & Kashmir. Born in a family of Kashmiri Pandits, Suresh has four siblings – brothers Dinesh, Naresh and Mukesh and elder sister Renu.

3. Cricketing ambitions:

Raina decided to play cricket at the age of 14 and moved to Specialist Government Sports College. He progressed to become the captain of Uttar Pradesh U-19 side. He got into limelight after he was selected to represent India U-19 at the age of just 15 years. After impressive performances at a very young age, Raina was awarded a Border-Gavaskar scholarship to train at the Australian Cricket Academy.

4. Played in the 2004 U-19 World Cup:

Raina represented India at the 2004 edition of the ICC U-19 World Cup. He played with some of the future Indian players like Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu. The tournament also featured other future international players who went on to represent their respective countries like Angelo Matthews, Alastair Cook, Vernon Philander and Wahab Riaz among others.

5. National debut:

After impressing everyone at the age group levels, Suresh Raina made his debut for India in 2005 against Sri Lanka. He took time to make his Test debut for India. He won his Test cap five years after playing his first ODI for India having played 98 ODIs in that span of time.

6. Forgettable ODI debut, sparkling Test debut:

Suresh Raina had contrasting performances in his ODI and Test debut matches. He was dismissed LBW by Muthiah Muralitharan for a golden duck on his ODI debut. However, Raina, on his Test debut against the same opposition in 2010, scored an impressive century in a high scoring draw. This achievement made him the 12th Indian to score a century on Test debut.

7. First Indian to score T20I century:

In the 2010 World T20 in West Indies, Suresh Raina became the first Indian to score a century for India in T20I cricket. His 101 runs knock against South Africa at Gros Islet came off just 60 balls and included 9 boundaries and 5 sixes. Only one other player has scored a hundred for India in the T20 format – Rohit Sharma.

8. India’s youngest T20I captain:

At the age of 23, Suresh Raina went on to become the youngest captain for India in the T20I format. Along with this, he also became the second youngest player to lead India in any format. The youngest player being Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi at the age of 21.

9. First Indian to hit tons in all 3 formats:

The stylish left-hander is the first Indian batsman to have racked up a century in all 3 formats of the game. Raina has hit 5 hundreds in ODIs and a solitary one each in T20Is and Tests. The other batsman to have achieved this feat for India is Rohit Sharma.

10. A gem for CSK in IPL:

Raina played for the Chennai Super Kings and holds various outstanding records in Indian Premier League. He is the first player to score 3000 runs in the IPL. He holds the record of most no. of catches in the IPL. He was the first Indian player and the second in the world to hit 100 sixes in the IPL. He is the first and only player to have scored over 400 runs in 7 IPL seasons. Raina is also the first and only Indian player to have scored a century in IPL, CLT20, and T20I.

11. Highest run-getter in IPL history:

Raina has scored 3,699 runs in the 132 matches that he has played for CSK. This includes a century and 25 half-centuries and a highest score of 100 not out. Raina also has the highest strike rate in the IPL history.

12. A Bollywood singer:

Earlier this year, Raina also went on to sing a song for a 2015 Bollywood film named ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters.’ It was a romantic number titled ‘Tu Mila Sab Mila’. Apart from his singing skills, the Indian batsman displayed his capability to play the Saxophone on a popular TV show recently.

Also Read: The Dark Knight of Indian cricket – Suresh Raina