"When I returned home, my father slapped me"- Suresh Raina discloses the one lesson he learnt from his parents at a young age

Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina recently narrated a lesser-known incident from his childhood. Raina spoke about the time when he left school and traveled to another town without informing his parents. He stayed there for three days. When he came back home, his parents slapped him.

In a chat with Jio Cinema on the 'Home of Heroes' show, Suresh Raina spoke in depth about some important phases of his journey to the top. When asked if his parents felt he was wasting his time playing cricket from a young age, Raina replied:

"Once we travelled to Bulandshahar for a tournament. We weren’t expecting to progress in the tournament so thought we would be back in a day, but we won the first match, thereafter the second match and then came the semis and final on the third day."

Suresh Raina informed his neighbors that he was in Bulandshahar on the third day of the tournament. Disclosing what happened next, he continued:

"When I returned home, my father slapped me for the adventure and my mother too joined him. They weren’t upset with me playing cricket but were not happy that I left school and straight travelled to another town without informing them."

"Lesson learnt, and from there on, I informed them every time I was traveling outside my hometown for cricket," he concluded.

Suresh Raina also revealed that his cricketing journey began at the Venus Sports Club under coach Gajendra Tyagi. His brother would bat for the team, and he would fill in as a substitute fielder for him. He rarely got a chance to bat, but when he scored 10-15 runs in a match, the team realized he was good enough.

Raina even mentioned that he preferred basketball over cricket in the beginning.

"I used to play a lot of basketball, but cricket somehow had a special place in my heart," he said.

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"He was so humble and down to earth"- Suresh Raina recalls meeting Sachin Tendulkar for the first time

Suresh Raina and Sachin Tendulkar won the 2011 Cricket World Cup together. They even lifted the Road Safety World Series title with the India Legends last year.

In the same chat with Jio Cinema, Raina recalled his first meeting with Tendulkar.

Raina said that receiving a scholarship from Air India was the turning point of his career. He went to Mumbai, where he played in the Times Shield and Kanga League under Pravin Amre’s tutelage with Dilip Vengsarkar as TRDO. Around the same time, he met Tendulkar for the first time at CCI.

"I got to meet Sachin sir for the first time at CCI and he was so humble and down to earth and that inspired me to take my game to the next level," Raina said.

Raina has now retired from international cricket and IPL, but he continues to entertain his fans by playing in other T20 leagues.