Suresh Raina announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on September 6. With this, the left-handed batsman brings to a close a career that spread across 18 Tests, 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 205 IPL matches. With Raina moving away from the sport, it is an apt time to recall some of his best knocks with the bat. (Image: Getty)
Suresh Raina only scored one Test hundred. That was in a match against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2010. Plenty of knocks are worth recalling from that drawn match. In that game Kumar Sangakkara hit double-hundred and Mahela Jayawardene scored 174 in Sri Lanka's first innings. In response, Indian opener Virender Sehwag blasted 99 from 101 balls and Sachin Tendulkar matched Kumar Sangakkara in getting a double century. But another knock worth mentioning is Raina's 120. What makes Raina's 120 special is the fact that it was his debut Test for India and the century came in his first Test innings. (Image: AP)
India faced South Africa in a Group C match of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in Gross Islet in the West Indies. Batting first India hit 186/5 thanks to a brilliant hundred from the bat of Suresh Raina. Raina had already notched hundreds in ODIs and Test matches. So, the century against South Africa made him India's first all-format centurion. (Image: Getty)
Two of Suresh Raina's most crucial knocks in ODIs came during India's successful 2011 ODI World Cup campaign. After missing from India's playing XI for the initial matches, Raina was drafted into the team for the crucial quarterfinal match against Australia. In that game India were chasing a tricky 261. Although Yuvraj Singh did the bluk of the scoring with a swashbuckling 57, but Raina's steady 34 ensured that India beat Australia to qualify for the semifinals. In the semifinal against arch-rivals Pakistan, Raina's quickfire 36 batting at no. 7 ensured that India were able to set a challenging target of 261.(Image: Getty)
After the successful World Cup campaign, India toured England. In an ODI match at Lord's, batting first India were reduced to 110/4. It was then that Suresh Raina came together with MS Dhoni and the two batsmen put up a 169-run partnership. Raina played a brutal knock of 84 from 75 balls which included seven fours and two sixes. One of the two sixes that Raina hit was so hard that the ball flew out of the Lord's stadium. From the other end, Dhoni scored 78 to take India to 280/5. Although Raina's knock did not result in India's win it was one of the best knocks that the left-handed batsman has played in his ODI career.(Image: Getty)
The 2015 ODI World Cup match between India and Pakistan is remembered for Virat Kohli's hundred and Mohammed Shami's firey spell of 4/35 that propelled India to the win. But Suresh Raina too played a vital role in India's win in Adelaide that day. Raina hit 74 from a mere 56 deliveries hitting five fours and three sixes to push India's total to 300/7. (Image: Getty)
All cricket fans rate Suresh Raina's staggering knock of 87 from just 25 balls in Qualifier 2 of the 2014 IPL vs Kings XI Punjab as his best-ever performance in the IPL. Batting first Punjab has hit a humongous 226/6 in the knock-out game. Chennai Super Kings had to score 227 at any cost to stay alive. The team was 1/1 when Raina walked to the middle. And in the matter of just a few overs, Raina had hammered the ball all over the park as he hit 12 fours and 6 sixes in his 25-ball stay in the middle. Raina's promising knock made CSK faithful believe that the target could be achieved. But unfortunately, Raina got out and CSK innings folded at 202/7 to lose the match. (Image: BCCI/IPL)
Suresh Raina played 205 IPL matches and hit 39 half-centuries. But he scored only one IPL century. It was in the 2014 season of the IPL when Raina ripped apart the Kings XI Punjab bowling attack to hit an exact hundred from 53 balls and remained not out. Raina's win prompted Chennai Super Kings to a 15-run win. (Image: BCCI/IPL)
