Former Indian great Rahul Dravid has expressed that Suresh Raina was a big part of India’s success in white-ball cricket. Raina announced his retirement from the international cricket on Saturday (15th August) evening along with MS Dhoni. His sudden retirement had shocked the cricket world. Rahul Dravid, who has shared his some part of the cricket journey with Raina, opined that the Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer carried huge importance in the Indian team.
Suresh Raina played 226 ODIs for India, scoring 5615 runs at an average of 35.31. He had also played in 78 Test matches and scored 1605 runs at an average of 29.81. The attacking batsman is the first Indian cricketer to have centuries across all the formats. Even Virat Kohli is still to get this record.
Suresh Raina has been a really big part of them: Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid recalled the time when Raina was a newcomer in the Team. He made the debut in India in 2005 but didn’t have a good start of his career. He was out for a duck in his ODI debut match against Sri Lanka. However, the veteran, at that time, had marked that Raina was going to be important for the team.
“Suresh Raina was one of those really young and exciting talents who’ve come through the Indian system. Sort of in the middle of the 2000s, 2004-05, when you’re playing Under19 cricket, doing exceptionally well and you could see even at that time that Suresh was going to be a very important player for India,” Dravid said on a video posted by the BCCI.
Dravid speaks of Raina’s fantastic career during India’s success in ODIs. He was the World Cup winner and Champions trophy winner. Suresh Raina had played a match-winning knock in India’s victory against Australia and Pakistan in World Cup 2011 to guide them grand-finale eventually lifting the trophy.
“That’s really how it played out in the last decade and a half. A lot of the success that India has had in white-ball cricket, lot of the great moments, great memories that India has had over the last so many years, Suresh has been a really big part of them. I think his contribution to Indian cricket, especially in the white-ball game has been fantastic.”
“He’s a World Cup winner; he’s a Champions Trophy winner and just the fact that he contributed so much on the field. I mean just his energy, the enthusiasm he brought, the way he raised the standard of fielding,” Dravid added.
Raina was a terrific team man: Rahul Dravid
Dravid admits that if Suresh Raina had got the opportunity to bat at the top-order, he would have a higher run tally. Because of the heavy top-order batsman, Raina got fewer chances to bat. However, the attacking batsman made some priceless cameos apart from getting the sizable knocks whenever the opportunities came by. He flourished as one of the best finishers of the game during his illustrious career.
“It was one thing you felt that Suresh did all the difficult things for India – batting lower down the order when his numbers could have been a lot better if he’d batted higher up in the order,”
“It has reflected in the success he’s had for CSK in the IPL (5368 runs from 193 matches – IPL’s second-highest run-getter) where he bats at No. 3 and has an absolutely phenomenal record. He’s one of the phenomenal players of the IPL in the last decade or so.”
Suresh Raina was an allrounder for the team. Apart from batting, he could get his team across the line with his terrific bowling and athletic fielding. Rahul Dravid has also named him the ‘terrific team-man’.
“For India, for the most of his career, he batted lower down, fielded at difficult positions, bowled some handy overs and always brought a lot to the team. Someone, I will think of a terrific team-man, who always gave his best and brought some great energy to the game and was a very skilful batter,” Dravid said.
Suresh Raina last played for India in 2018. He will be playing for CSK in the much-awaited IPL edition in the UAE.