Suresh Raina is one of the great players in Indian T20 cricket history. On Monday (25 February), Suresh Raina became the first Indian batsman to score 8,000 T20 runs.
The 32-year-old left-handed batsman Suresh Raina is currently busy in 2018/19 Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. While he is representing Uttar Pradesh in this tournament, he became only the second Indian cricketer to play 300 or more T20s. After MS Dhoni (301 T20s), Suresh Raina became the second Indian cricketer to play 300 T20s on Monday. In overall, he became the 14th cricketer to play 300 or more T20s.
On Monday, Uttar Pradesh met against Puducherry in the group stages (Group E). Suresh Raina had to score 11 runs to become the first Indian cricketer to score 8,000 T20 runs, and he scored 12 runs during his 300th T20 match. Suresh Raina now has 8001 runs in his T20 Career.
In overall, Suresh Raina became the sixth cricketer to score 8,000 T20 runs.
Here is the top 10 list of T20 most run-scorers
| Player | Matches (Innings) | Runs scored | Average | 100s/50s |
| Chris Gayle | 369 (361) | 12,298 | 39.16 | 21/76 |
| Brendon McCullum | 370 (364) | 9,922 | 29.97 | 7/55 |
| Kieron Pollard | 451 (407) | 8,838 | 29.85 | 1/44 |
| Shoaib Malik | 340 (320) | 8,603 | 36.60 | 0/51 |
| David Warner | 259 (258) | 8,111 | 35.26 | 6/63 |
| Suresh Raina | 300 (284) | 8,001 | 33.47 | 4/48 |
| Virat Kohli | 251 (237) | 7,833 | 40.79 | 4/57 |
| Aaron Finch | 252 (247) | 7,827 | 35.57 | 6/53 |
| Dwayne Smith | 331 (321) | 7,799 | 26.52 | 5/46 |
| Rohit Sharma | 299 (286) | 7,795 | 32.34 | 6/53 |
Uttar Pradesh clinched a crucial victory
Though Suresh Raina failed to shine in his milestone game, Uttar Pradesh secured a crucial but easy victory against Puducherry. After deciding to bat first at Delhi, Uttar Pradesh managed to score 179/4 in 20 overs. The no.4 batsman Priyam Garg scored 54 off 30 balls (six boundaries and two over-boundaries) in that innings. Also, the openers Upendra Yadav (36) & Samarth Singh (29) and the no.6 batsman Rinku Singh (29* off 10 balls) played some essential innings.
In reply, Puducherry only managed to score 102/6 in 20 overs. None of their batsmen were able to reach the 30-run mark in that innings. Both the unbeaten batsmen, Fabid Ahmed and Parandaman Thamaraikannan, were the highest run-scorers in that innings as both scored 25 runs. The UP left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar was their best bowler with figures of 4-0-14-4.