Suresh Raina, one of India’s prolific white ball players in the last decade and a half announced his retirement from international cricket, following the footsteps of his favourite captain and mentor Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Raina’s message came minutes after Dhoni told his million of fans “consider me retired” on his Instagram page. “It was nothing but lovely playing with you, @mahi7781 . With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey. Thank you India. Jai Hind,” Raina posted on his instagram page.
The 33-year-old Raina is among the few players who have scored centuries across all the formats having played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20 Internationals with nearly 8000 international runs. His best moment was a crucial unbeaten knock in a tricky World Cup quarter-final against Australia during the triumphant 2011 campaign.
A member of India’s 2004 Under-19 World Cup side, Raina made his ODI debut at the age of 19, in July 2005, against Sri Lanka, though he had to wait five more years for his Test debut, that incidentally came against the same opposition, in July 2010. Raina achieved the rare feat of a hundred on Test debut, and he was also a part of the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian side.
After falling off the selectors’ radar for Tests, mainly due to his struggles against the short ball, Raina was recalled after almost two years on the 2014-15 tour of Australia and made his comeback in India’s first game post Dhoni’s retirement and under Virat Kohli’s leadership. This was also his last appearance for India in whites.
Raina was due to make his ODI comeback in the series against New Zealand, in 2016, but was ruled out due to Chikungunya. He last represented India in the two shorter formats on the 2018 tour of England. In 2017, Raina was dropped from the BCCI’s annual contracts list.
Both Raina and Dhoni will be seen in action next for CSK in the IPL that kicks off September 19.
