Brendon McCullum broke the record for fastest Test century today when he smashed a 54-ball 100 against Australia at Christchurch. He surpassed Vivian Richards’ and Misbah-ul-Haq's records of scoring it in 56 balls.
Today when McCullum broke the world record, his Indian Premier League (IPL) teammate Suresh Raina said that he couldn't be more happier to have New Zealand’s skipper in his IPL team Gujarat Lions even though he wishes an Indian to break the milestone.
When Raina was asked if McCullum breaking a 30-year-old record of Sir Viv Richards (which he jointly shared with Misbah-ul-Haq) will make it easier for new generation of batsmen to have a shot at glory, he said: "I am very happy for McCullum but I hope that somebody from India can do it. I am happy that we have McCullum in Gujarat Lions team. He is a fearless cricketer and we want players who will be playing fearless cricket."
The Indian T20 specialist, Raina, is the leading run-scorer (3699 runs) in the IPL and now will be captaining the new Rajkot City’s franchise. Both Raina and McCullum played together for the Chennai Super Kings team (now defunct) for many years. If McCullum used to give quick-fire starts to the team, Raina used to do the work of finisher in the end.
Raina said at the launch of the Gujarat Lions' team jersey that captaincy is "just a designation" for him and nothing more.
"Captaincy is just a designation for me. It is the performance that wins you matches. It is all about how one performs on a particular day. My job is simple. I have to deliver for the Gujarat Lions. Right now, the focus is on Asia Cup, then we have the World T20 and then comes the IPL. We will have a camp in Gujarat with domestic players before IPL. It is important to have a balanced team with good domestic players."
Just like Mahendra Singh Dhoni said some days back, Raina also again stated that it will be emotional for him to play for another team after spending eight years in the CSK camp.
"I have played for CSK non-stop for eight years without missing a single game. So it will be emotional for me. But at the same time, we have a very good team at the Gujarat Lions," said Raina.
He added that he has no problems batting at No 4 in the Indian team despite being a No 3 batsman for CSK in the IPL.
"I don't see it as a problem as we have big hitters across all slots. Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya can play big shots. It is important to now maintain a consistent performance graph from here till the World T20. We have a good mix of youth and experience in our team. There are members of the 2007 World T20 team as well as the 2011 World Cup team, we are fortunate to have them."
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