Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina Biography

•Full Name- Suresh Kumar Raina
•Born- 27th November 1986
•Age- 25
•Debut(Tests)-26th July 2010 V/s Sri Lanka
•Debut(ODI)- 31st July 2005 V/s Sri Lanka
•Debut (T20)- 1st December 2006 V/s South Africa
•Teams Played- India, Chennai Super kings, Uttar Pradesh
•Batting  style – Left Arm batsman
•Bowling  Discipline- Right Arm off break
•Role- Batsman

Suresh Raina has pitted for his performance in the Indian team. The youngster burst in to the scene with stellar performance in ODI cricket and earned for himself a place in the national team and has maintained his name in selection reckoning with his performance. Moreover he has played an instrumental role with fielding and is considered as one of the best fielders in the present pack of the Indian team along with Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma. He also holds the distinction of being the only Indian player to have scored a century in all formats of the game.

EARLY LIFE- Suresh Raina was born in the town of Rainawari in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and hence he has the surname Raina. His family was forced to leave the valley because of the persecution against the Hindu Brahmins in the middle and late 80’s. The family moved and resettled in Mudranagar Ghaziabad. He attended the Governmnmet Sports College.  Raina certainly had the prowess as a cricketer but turned seriously in playing cricket in 1999. He rose to captain the UP under 16 side and subsequently the Ranji Trophy side. His performance bought him in the spot light and he was selected for the  Border Gavaskar Scholarship to train in Australia.

CAREER- His performances saw him gain a place in the India squad for the Indian Oil Cup in 2005. At that time Raina was 18 years old.  He was dismissed on his first delivery by the Sri Lankan Spin wizard Muttiah Muralidharan. Raina was then omitted from the Indian squad.  He earned a call up in to the test squad as a replacement for the outsted Indian Skipper Sourav Gaungly. He responded top his series with successive half century performance. For his performance he was awarded a grade B contract. However chances eluded Raina who was in and out of the team and got his next breakthrough when Sachin Tendulkar was rested for the series.

His first century came against Hong Kong  when he smashed the feat in just 66 balls and became the fastest India to do so. His test debut was a magical fairy tail in the making as he smashed the Sri Lankan Bowling out of the park and stamped his entry in test match cricket. In the 2011 CWC he was rested for the matches and for the matches he played he consolidated the captain fatith with guiding performance both with bat and on the field. In 2011 Raina took over the reins of the team following the rest granted for Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India won the one day series by Raina averaged poorly. However he made amends for it with his test performances. He struggled in the subsequent English series against the fire battery and managed a 29 ball duck which is a longest by an Indian in an inning and completed that series with just 27 runs from 7 innings. However in the ODI he scored a consolatory 84 for 111 balls in the Lords game but it was in a losing cause.

In the first ODI, Suresh Raina played an attacking 45 ball, 50-run knock to help India reach 314.They eventually won the match by 21 runs on 21 July 2012.In the second ODI he was out for 1 but he came back stronger in third ODI where he played a blistering 45 ball 65 to hand India a five wicket win and he eventually also won MOM award for his performance that too when gambhir scored a century in that match. He continued his good form in the 4th ODI as he score his 3rd half-century of the series and helped India beat Srilanka by 6 wickets by scoring 58*. He has been a consistent performer in the IPL striking at a brisk and consistent strike rate and has been player of the tournament and the highest scorer in individual additions.

CRITICISM AND CONTRIOVERSIES- Critics have hounded him for its inability to tackle the short ball effectively and that has been one of his grave faults as a cricketer. Apart from that he also being vulnerable to it and his past tours of England well asserted this fact. Apart from Faulty defensive, short Pitch bowling has stunted his performance.

RECORDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
•First Indian to score a century in all formats of the game( Test, 50 overs and T20)
•Scored a hundred on test debut
•The fastest hundred in ODI and that too debut century at 66 balls
•BEST FIELDER AWARD by BCCI during the IPL.
•Leading Run Scorer in the IPL and the first player to score 400 in all editions

Best Performances
128 V/s Sri Lanka at Colombo on 2nd July 2010
Stealer on test debut. India were up against Sri Lanka who made an imposing first Innings score in reply India’s batting pair of Tendulkar and Raina put on 200 runs and Raina made his first century in test and that too in his debut game.

101 in T20 V/s South Africa at Gros Islet
He became the first man to score a hundred in all three formats of the game for Indian and guideds the team to famous T20 triumphs against the mighty protean team.

101 of 68 balls V/s Hong Kong at Karachi 25 June, 2008
His fastest 100 and the secong fastest by an Indian player. Though it came against an ICC Associate team this innings would be surely remembered for his stroke play and his ability tos core runs at a brisk pace. He didn’t play rather he wristed his innings with sheer ability
 
Staistics
ODI STATS
 

Batting
Matches'-151
Runs-3699
Average-35.56
100/50 -3/24
Catches- 63

Bowling
Matches-151
Wickets-16
Average-55.31
Best Bowling-2/7

TESTS

Batting
Matches-17
Runs-768
Average-28.44
100/50 -1/7
Catches- 22

Bowling
Matches-17
Wickets- 15
Average-40.92
Best Bowling-2/1

T20

Batting
Matches-26
Runs-631
Average-33.21
100/50 -1/3
Catches- 9

Bowling
Matches-26
Wickets- 5
Average-25.80
Best Bowling-2/49