Glad I delivered when the team needed me: Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina with the man-of-the-match award

Auckland, March 14 (IANS)

Awarded man-of-the-match for his swashbuckling innings of 110 not out against Zimbabwe in their last World Cup Pool B encounter at the Eden Park on Saturday, Indian batsman Suresh Raina said he felt glad delivering the goods when his team needed him the most.

“I knew I need to deliver when my team needed me the most, I'm glad I did that today,” Raina said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“We played smart cricket”

Chasing 288, Raina came into bat with India in a spot of bother at 71 for three. But the little left-hander did not panic and went about his job scoring runs freely.

India lost Virat Kohli (38) soon, but Raina and Dhoni (85) ensured there were no further hiccups as they put on India's best World Cup stand in chases – 196 runs – to ease past the Zimbabwean total.

“We lost a few wickets upfront, but as I came in I was hitting the ball (well). We played smart cricket, played lot of singles good shots and overall it was a good team effort.”

The 28-year-old further said he owes the success to the confidence shown in him by the captain and the coaching staff.

“There was a lot talked about in the team meeting with Dhoni, Sanjay Bangar (assistant coach) and Ravi Shastri (team director) and that helped a lot.”