Suresh Raina: India's Most Underrated Cricketer

The success of any cricket team relies on versatile players, players who can rescue a sinking batting lineup, make astonishing catches, and contribute crucial wickets with their bowling. Their contributions may go under the radar and such players may be underrated in a lot of aspects but the value they add to the team cannot be understated. And such a player is a dream to have in any team. The Indian Cricket Team in the past few decades has tried to bring up many youngsters who could play such roles and be the backbone of the team, but none has ever been able to replace Suresh Raina. Raina was a man with a quiet demeanor but a cricketing prowess that spoke volumes. With his unassuming personality off the field and his explosive batting and exceptional fielding skills on it, he was a force to be reckoned with when at his best, playing both for the Indian Team and the Chennai Super Kings.

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International Career:

Raina's dream of playing for the Indian national team came true in 2005 when he made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Sri Lanka and went on to play 18 Tests, 226 ODIs, and 78 T20Is. Suresh Raina made his Test Cricket debut in July 2010 against Sri Lanka, five years after his ODI debut, and scored a hundred in his first ever test match. He was a prolific run-scorer in all three formats of the game scoring 768 runs in Tests, 5615 runs in ODIs, and 1605 runs in T20Is.

Suresh Raina kisses his helmet to celebrate after scoring a century on his debut.He played in the lower middle order as an explosive batsman but his versatility and a reliability as a fielder made him a crucial part of the Indian team. He too was a key member of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He made his T20 debut against South Africa on 1 December 2006 and if there’s one format that Suresh Raina owned then that is T20s. He was a different beast in the shortest format of the game and one of India’s best player in the 2010s in the format. In the 2010 ICC T20 World Cup, he smashed a century against South Africa, and became the first Indian to score a 100 in all three formats of the game. 

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Records:

•First Indian player to score 6000 runs in his Twenty20 career.

•First Indian player to score 8000 runs in his Twenty20 career.

•First Indian player to score a century in International T20.

•First Indian player to score a century in Champions League Twenty20.

•First cricketer ever to reach 5,000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

•Holds the record for the most number of catches (107) in the IPL.

•Second player after Chris Gayle and the first Indian player to hit 100 sixes in the IPL.

•Highest run-scorer in the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) with 842 runs.

•Holds the record for scoring the most fifties (50s) in Champions League T20 history with 6 fifties.

Holds the record for the most runs scored in the powerplay in an IPL match.