‘I idolize Rahul sir a lot but Yuvi got on to me’ – Suresh Raina reveals hilarious banter involving Sachin Tendulkar

Former India cricketer Suresh Raina revealed a rather hilarious incident involving Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar during his debut in 2005. Notably, the southpaw earned his India cap on July 30, 2005, during an ODI match against Sri Lanka.

Raina opened up on his debut and revealed that he got the national cap from former skipper Rahul Dravid. However, he also expressed how former teammate Yuvraj Singh took a hilarious jibe at him when Raina mentioned that he idolised Dravid.

"I got my India cap in 2005 from Rahul (Dravid) Bhai. I had to give a speech in front of Paaji (Sachin Tendulkar), Viru Paa (Virender Sehwag), Dada (Sourav Ganguly), VVS Laxman, Zaheer (Khan) Bhai, Ashu (Ashish Nehra) Bhai, Anil (Kumble) Bhai, Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) Paa, Bhajju (Harbhajan Singh) Paa, MS Dhoni had recently joined the team and Irfan Pathan. So, I started the usual spiel but was stopped midway and asked to name my favourite player,” began Raina, as quoted by Hindustan Times.

"I said I idolize Rahul sir a lot so Yuvi got on to me immediately and pulled my leg saying “The world’s best batsman and God of Cricket is sitting here, how is he not your favourite?” I clarified that Sachin Paaji was also one of the favourites but I had posters of Dravid on my wall. It was a very friendly banter and broke the ice for me,” he further added.

The former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in September 2022. During his stint with the national team, Raina featured in 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is, and 18 Tests and collected 5615, 1605, and 768 runs, respectively, across the formats.

After being released by Chennai Super Kings prior to the 2022 player auction, the player eventually did not find a franchise to play for in the event. The southpaw recently began his commentary stint, as he was part of the commentators' panel during the recently concluded IPL 2023.