Athletic, aggressive and amazing, he symbolizes the new age of Indian cricket.
It is not just his swashbuckling shots which catch the eye but his electric fielding in the circle taking exceptional catches and saving crucial runs.
The only Indian to score a century in all three formats of the game, Suresh Raina is a limited-overs and T20 specialist.
Early Life
Suresh Kumar Raina was born on November 27, 1986 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. He comes from a Kashmiri Pandit family with 3 elder brothers and 1 elder sister. His love for cricket made him move from his hometown to Lucknow where he attended the specialist government Sports College.
Career
ODI Career
Raina made his ODI debut in 2005 against Sri Lanka at the age of 18. He had been the number one choice for replacement in case any first team player was injured. However, he cemented his place in the squad with some crucial knocks in the world cup 2011.
In the 95 ODIs he played, Raina has scored 4805 runs at a strike rate of 92.27 with 29 half centuries and 4 centuries. The part-time off spinner has 29 wickets under his name.
T20 Career
Raina made his T20 debut in 2006 against South Africa. 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.
In the 43 T20s he payer, Raina has scored 922 runs at a strike rate of 135.78 with 3 half centuries and a ton. He has scalped 6 wickets in the T20s
Test Career
Raina broke into the test XI in 2010 against Sri Lanka. He holds the record for having played the most ODIs before making Test debut. He scored a century on his debut however his shaky technique against quality pace bowling and more importantly his inefficiency to tackle steep bounce kept him on the shores of the Test squad more often than not.
In the 17 test matches he played, he has scored 768 runs with a strike rate of 53.29 with 7 half centuries and a ton.
IPL
Raina was signed by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for US$ 5 million for the first three years of the IPL. He was in super form and his contributions were a part of CSK finishing at number 2 in the league.
His worth in the squad increased as the seasons went by. He was the leading run scorer for CSK in the 2010 and 2011 edition.
In 2013 IPL Raina scored his maiden hundred in IPL against Kings XI Punjab and ended the tournament with 548 runs with a strike rate of 150.13
Achievements
He was second youngest captain of the Indian at 23 years 182 days and the twelfth youngest player to captain a side in world cricket.
He was twelfth Indian to score test century on debut.
He was the only Indian to have hit a century in the T20 World Cup.