Legendary former India batsman Suresh Raina has announced his retirement from all forms of Indian cricket – domestic and IPL – on Tuesday, September 6th. Raina, who had retired from international cricket on 15 August 2020 along with MS Dhoni, took to social media to confirm his decision.
“It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of Cricket. I would like to thank BCCI, UPCA (Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association), Chennai Super Kings, Rajiv Shukla sir and all my fans for their support and unwavering faith in my abilities,” he wrote on Twitter.
It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of Cricket. I would like to thank @BCCI, @UPCACricket, @ChennaiIPL, @ShuklaRajiv sir & all my fans for their support and unwavering faith in my abilities 🇮🇳
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) September 6, 2022
Raina featured in 109 first-class matches, scoring 6871 runs and in 302 List-A games in, scoring 8078 runs. For India, he played 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 18 Tests and was part of some of the most memorable triumphs.
Known as the Mr. IPL, in 205 IPL games, Suresh Raina scored a total of 5528 runs -the fifth highest in the tournament’s history – notching up 39 fifties and 1 century in the competition. Raina was part of all 4 CSK’s IPL title-winning campaigns.
From 2008, Suresh Raina played for CSK till 2021 – barring the 2016 and 2017 seasons when he led the Gujarat Titans when CSK were banned, and also missed the 2020 season due to personal reasons. This decision to retire from Indian cricket – domestic and IPL – will allow Raina to ply his trade in other leagues around the world; he’s already signed up for the upcoming season of the Road Safety Series. He wasn’t picked by any team in IPL 2022 and had to shift to commentary.
Here are some of the best records from Suresh Raina’s career:
Maiden Test century on debut
Suresh Raina became only the 12th Indian batsman to register a century on Test debut – in 2010 against Sri Lanka in Colombo. He scored 120 runs off 228 balls in India’s total of 707, sharing a 256-run stand with Tendulkar, who slammed a double ton.
First Indian batsman to score a hundred in every format
Suresh Raina became only the third cricketer in the world and the first Indian ever to complete hundreds in all three international formats. His maiden ODI hundred came against Hong Kong in 2008, his maiden Test century against Sri Lanka in 2010 and that same year, he notched up his only T20I hundred- against South Africa in the 2010 T20 World Cup.
Only centurion from India in T20 World Cup history
Again, Suresh Raina is the only Indian to hit a three-figure score in the history of the T20 World Cup, across all the 7 editions. He smashed the T20I century against the Proteas at Gros Islet, St Lucia. Batting at number 3, Raina had to come in to bat as early as the third ball of the innings after opener Murali Vijay’s dismissal.
He went on to smash 101 runs off 60 balls with the help of 9 fours and 5 sixes. To think, that South African attack included the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne and Albie Morkel and Jacques Kallis.
Suresh Raina’s hunger for runs in the T20 format
While he attained a good amount of success in ODI cricket and some in Tests, it was the shortest format that Raina made his name in, and in particular, dominated the IPL for a decade. He became the first player to score 5000 runs in IPL, during IPL 2019 before being overtaken by Kohli. Notably, Raina was also the first Indian player to score 8,000 runs in T20 cricket.
He is currently the fifth highest run-scorer in the history of IPL with 5528 runs in 205 matches.
