Suresh Raina: The Unsung Hero of Indian cricket

Team India, over the years, has had several iconic especially world conquering top-order batsmen. But in the last couple of decades, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni are perhaps the only two who we recall as game-changing, impactful middle-order batsmen in limited-overs cricket. However, there is one player who is not talked about enough and has usually gone under the radar.

A player who scored a crucial 34* and 36* in the quarter finals and semi finals of the 2011 World Cup, a player who was the first Indian to score a hundred in all formats of the game, and he is Mr IPL, Suresh Raina. And so perhaps the most underrated middle order batsman, who played under the shadows of more illustrious batsman right through his career, fittingly called it a day quietly, with his best friend, MS Dhoni.

He was a good player in the longer format of the game, but it was difficult for him to find a spot in a team which at the time comprised of legends like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. His first full-fledged series in Tests after his debut came in England, perhaps the hardest place to bat for a youngster and Raina had a horrid time, scoring just 105 runs in 8 innings, and falling to the short ball time and time again.

One of the top middle-order batsmen in ODIs

Suresh Raina entered the game at a very young age and played a lot of age group cricket and was selected to play for his Ranji Team Uttar Pradesh at a tender age of 16, before making his ODI debut for India in 2005 at 19. While he established his spot in the limited overs set up, the southpaw made his Test debut only in 2010 against Sri Lanka, scoring a ton on debut.

Despite not being able to succeed in the longest format of the game, Suresh Raina was one of India’s finest middle order batsmen in ODIs right through his career. He had the ability to stabilise the innings as well as play the big shots from ball one. He also provided the extra bowling option and contributed immensely on the field, easily being one of the best modern-day fielders.

He played a number of impactful innings especially in the World Cup. Apart from his knocks in the 2011 World Cup lower down the order in the knockouts, he also played a superb knock of 74 of just 56 balls against Pakistan in the inaugural match of the 2015 World Cup. While Virat Kohli’s century got all the praises, it was actually Raina’s knock which gave momentum to the innings and lifted India to a competitive score.

He came to India’s rescue once again against Zimbabwe a few matches later when chasing a big total of 288. The team was in a spot of bother at 92/4. Raina joined hands with Dhoni, soaked in all the pressure and scored an unbeaten, match-winning 110.

A legend in T20 cricket

While he was extremely successful in ODIs, it was in the T20 format, especially the IPL, where Suresh Raina is regarded nothing less than a legend. Across 12 seasons of IPL, the left-hander has scored 5368 runs in 193 matches at an average of 33.34 and a strike rate of 137.14, with most of them coming for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He has been a sensational player for the franchise and also had a phenomenal record in the now defunct Champions League where against top T20 teams across the globe he was the top scorer (2010-2014) with 842 runs in 24 innings, at a strike rate of  151.43 and average in excess of 38.

Suresh Raina also outscored every batsman when it came to the crunch games, the playoffs. He has easily been the most consistent batsman in the IPL and his blistering 87 of 25 balls in a playoff game against Kings XI Punjab is perhaps the most breath-taking innings played by an Indian in the IPL. It was a slightly different story in T20s. While he played the entire T20 World Cup in 2016, following poor returns of 41 runs in 4 innings, he lost favour in the side, but did end up playing 3 games in 2017.

He was recalled to the T20I team 2018 to play in a series against South Africa, and played a total of 11 games in the year, the last one being in England following which he was dropped. Despite a glittering career, Suresh Raina had his share of lows like every cricketer does. He had patches of bad form, but recovered quickly in the first decade of his career. But the last 5 years or so hadn’t been too kind to him.

After being a permanent member of the limited-overs set up for India, Raina lost his place in the ODI team in 2015 after a run of poor form, making a comeback in 2018 to play a couple of games, only to be dropped and never be picked again.  Suresh Raina had a successful IPL in 2018 with 445 runs, and scored a healthy 298 runs in T20Is as well.

While his exclusion from both the limited-overs teams was shocking considering he hadn’t been given a long enough rope after being called back, the cricketer not being picked for the T20Is, in particular, was confusing as he had done a more than decent job.

With the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey stringing in strong performances in the last 18 months, the doors of an international return seemed to have closed on Raina and that is perhaps why he chose to hang up his boots despite being just 33. Despite his commendable numbers, they were not what defined him. Raina went way beyond numbers.

Suresh Raina – The Team Player

Suresh Raina was the perfect team player. A player who would keep the team in high spirits. He was the first one to run towards the bowler to celebrate a wicket taken by him. He would also be the one giving the mightiest applause from the dugout to the batsman who scored a century. Raina was never hungry for the limelight. He celebrated others’ success as if they were his own. And that is perhaps the most important quality to look for in a player playing team sport.

He was the glue who kept the teams he played for together. And that is why Raina will be remembered in Indian cricket as perhaps the most selfless player. A number of people feel that he has taken an emotional call and called time on his career despite having a few years of international cricket left in him. And that argument is perhaps true.

Suresh Raina only needed to go a few years back and take inspiration from someone like Ashish Nehra who successfully made a comeback at the age of 37, and went on to play T20 Internationals for a couple of years. But Raina certainly is a man of emotion who has seen several highs and lows in his career.

Perhaps he felt going out with his best mate, a player he had several partnerships with and a captain who backed him to the hilt would be a fitting end to his 13-year long international career. And who are we to question his decision? We can however look forward to Raina turning up for CSK, a franchise which has given him so much, at least for a few years.

But irrespective of how he fares in the coming years, there is one thing for sure. Raina will always be looked upon as a player who wasn’t given as much appreciation as he deserved as he never demanded it. A player without an ego. A player who looked out for others more than himself and someone who always stood up when the team needed him to. Suresh Raina will always be remembered as an unsung hero..