Happy Birthday Mr IPL, 5 unknown facts about Suresh Raina
NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – When Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh went out of Indian team there we thought that India might never see as awesome fielder like them. The era has ended. But then Indian cricket fan got a gift named Suresh Raina. His acrobatic fielding and catching made him popular in Indian houses in no time.
Suresh Raina made his international debut on 2005 where he played a match against 1st ball of the match. His career didn’t start as what he would have expected, but his fielding effort was good enough that he managed to run out one Sri Lankan batsman.
He was one of the players who played the first T20 ever by India, which was led by Virendra Sehwag. In that match he took 2 catches and didn’t got to bat much. Then after 5 years of wait he played in whites for India where he could not established himself as a good player.
In the shorter versions, though, there is no doubt about his talent. The ability to split the field and discover gaps where fielders could not be placed earned him high praise when he first burst through to play for India in December 2006.
The early years, however, weren’t so prolific, which led to his omission from the 2007 World Cup. He forced his way back with a mountain of runs in domestic cricket, and from June 2008 was prolific in ODIs too, enhancing his stature as one of India’s responsible gen-next batsmen. Also helping his cause were three supremely successful seasons for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and in the Champions League. He was one of the four players retained by the franchise for the 2011 season.
An attacking left-hander who goes for the big shots with impunity and clears the field with a swashbuckling flourish when at the top of his game, Raina is also equally capable of attracting applause as an electric fielder in the circle. All of this, though, is tempered with an iffy technique against the short ball, which has been mercilessly exposed in Test cricket.
So today is his Birthday and let us look at top 5 unknown facts about Mr IPL.
1. First Indian to score T20I century
Raina’s 101 against South Africa at the 2010 World Twenty20 in West Indies was the first century by an Indian batsman in T20I cricket. Only one other Indian player has a hundred in the T20 format – Rohit Sharma.
2. Played in the 2004 U-19 World Cup
Raina represented India at the 2004 edition of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, where India ended up being semi-finalists. He was accompanied by future Indian players like Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu.
3. 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 being Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi at the age of 21.
4. Never missed a game for CSK
Suresh Raina has not missed out on a single match for his franchise at the Indian Premier League, Chennai Super Kings. Even CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has missed just 3 IPL games for his team, loses out to his teammate in this regard.
5. 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 ODI opener Rohit Sharma.
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