As India batsman, Suresh Raina celebrates his 33rd birthday today, wishes continue to pour in for the ‘Southpaw’.
Many cricketers took to Twitter to extend birthday wishes for the left-handed batsman who was the first Men in Blue to register centuries in all three formats of the game.
“Wish you a very happy birthday @ImRaina. May you continue with your hard work and entertain. Best wishes always! #HappyBirthdayRaina,” former batsman Mohammad Kaif tweeted.
Wish you a very happy birthday @ImRaina . May you continue with your hard work and entertain. Best wishes always ! #HappyBirthdayRaina pic.twitter.com/nR2ltKPVaz
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) November 27, 2019
Raina’s Indian Premier League (IPL) side Chennai Super Kings (CSK) posted a video of his innings against Kings XI Punjab in the tournament and captioned the post as: “It’s a ritual to start 27/11 with this 87 against Kings XI! #WhistlePodu #HappyBirthdayRaina @ImRaina”.
Suresh Kumar Raina, Sonu, Mr. IPL, many names for this little phenomenon. But just like thalaivar, he’s got another name in this part of the country. AnbuDen #ChinnaThala, now and always! As our No.3 turns 33, here’s wishing him infinite #yellove all year long! #WhistlePodu 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/otoZB6wIm6
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) November 26, 2019
“Wishing you a year filled with love, laughter and joy @ImRaina #HappyBirthdayRaina,” former batsman VVS Laxman tweeted.
Wishing you a year filled with love, laughter and joy @ImRaina #HappyBirthdayRaina pic.twitter.com/h3N7X3T0ZX
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) November 27, 2019
“Happy birthday brother @ImRaina have a super-duper birthday..looking forward to see you roaring this year for @ChennaiIPL fully fit.. #mripl much love,” spinner Harbhajan Singh tweeted.
Happy birthday brother @ImRaina have a super duper birthday..looking forward to see you roaring this year for @ChennaiIPL fully fit.. #mripl much love 🤗🤗 pic.twitter.com/b67nxObaYM
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) November 27, 2019
“Happy birthday Suresh Raina! Did you know he was the first Indian player to score a century for his country in Test, ODI and T20I cricket,” ICC tweeted.
Happy birthday Suresh Raina!
Did you know he was the first Indian player to score a century for his country in Test, ODI and T20I cricket 🙌 pic.twitter.com/GKY92hBUEn
— ICC (@ICC) November 27, 2019
Raina is the only Indian batsman to have scored centuries in both ODI and T20I World Cups. He has played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is.
He made his ODI debut in 2005 against Sri Lanka while his first game in the longest format came in 2010 against the same opponent.
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Raina had gone on to score a century in his maiden Test.
The left-handed batsman has the second-highest number of runs in the IPL. He has scored 5368 runs from 189 innings for CSK and is only behind Royal Challengers Banglore’s skipper Virat Kohli.
Raina has smashed 189 sixes in the IPL and he is on the fifth place in the list of batsmen with the most number of sixes in the tournament.
(With ANI inputs)