For any Indian cricket lover, remembering each one of Team India’s clashes with arch-rivals Pakistan isn’t a difficult thing at all. Therefore, whenever we talk about the 2015 World Cup, it makes us remember the brilliant 107 of Virat Kohli, however, another player who gave a crucial performance in the match was Suresh Raina.
Five years since the crucial knock that helped Team India in clinching a comfortable victory, Indian cricketer Suresh Raina recalled the memories of his knock and revealed a clever change in plan made by the former skipper MS Dhoni.
Well, during the tournament, Ajinkya Rahane was India’s no.4 and Suresh Raina was at no.5. However, during this particular match against Pakistan, Dhoni decided to go with Suresh Raina at no.4. Talking about the same, Suresh Raina revealed:
“I never questioned his decisions. I remember I was having a sandwich or something during our match against Pakistan in World Cup 2015. Suddenly after 20 overs, he said ‘pad-up’. I padded up. Virat was batting really well and this happened just a few overs before Shikhar (Dhawan) got run out. So I got out in the middle, played a few shots and scored 70-80 runs,”
He added:
“After the match, I asked him why did you sent me up the order? He said, ‘I thought you will play better against the leg-spinner who was bowling at that time’. He also praised me for my batting. So I also want to know what goes on in his mind.”
Furthermore, Suresh Raina showered praises on MS Dhoni and opened up about how he has always backed him. He revealed:
“He was always a step ahead. He used to stand behind the stumps for the entire match, assess the pitch, whether it has turn and swing… He was seldom wrong, I can say he was god gifted. Later when I became the captain of Gujarat Lions in IPL, he told me ‘you can come up to me anytime for suggestions.”
