A man of few words: SURESH RAINA

This man has been in the limelight for quite a while now, for all the good reasons, of course.Way back in the year 1999, Suresh Raina could have only imagined himself being a part of the National team, when he moved from his hometown Ghaziabad to Lucknow to attend the government Sports College (Mohammed Kaif, too comes from the same college). After a successful under-19 campaign, Raina was then awarded a Border-Gavaskar scholarship to train at the Australian Cricket Academy. He returned to the domestic circuit, thereafter.

Later on, he made his first-class debut, where he scored 600 plus runs in the season, with a staggering average of 53.75. Although his international career began poorly with a “Golden Duck” off Muralitharan, he returned to cement his place in the team, all thanks to the sacking of Sourav Ganguly from the side. But again, a poor run of form and injury kept him out of action for a long time.

A left-handed batsman and an occasional off-spinner, Raina plays for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy and Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy. He played an instrumental role in Uttar Pradesh’s glory in the 2005-06 season. His exuberant batting skills and athletic ability in the field has impressed one and all. His excellent form in the Ranji Trophy in 2008 earned him another recall to the national side. Raina is yet to debut in the test arena.

IPL, for him has been a tremendous form of Twenty20 cricket. After a strong season in 2008, Raina established himself as a regular member of the Indian team in ODI’s as well as T20. In 2009, he had the fifth best economy rate in the IPL. This year, Raina was the most consistent player in the Chennai Super Kings squad, helped his team reach the finals with brilliant knocks coming off his bat and ultimately played an important role in the final, guiding his team to victory! Third highest run-getter and a Man-of-the-match in the tournament are just some of his credentials, not to forget his electric performance in the field with some really amazing catches.

The 21 year-old is having a fantastic cricketing experience and is currently the most talked-about player everywhere. Hope he continues to play in the same manner throughout his career.

Oh, and by the way India just emerged victorious against South Africa. Again, it was Suresh Raina who played the big knock with a mind boggling 101 off 60 balls. Well done, boy!