Bowlers who made Suresh Raina their bunny in cricket’s shortest format

Suresh Raina has been a dependable middle-order batsman both for the Indian cricket team in international cricket and Team Chennai in Indian T20 League.

After making his T20I debut against South Africa in 2006, Raina became a vital cog in the Men in Blue set-up in the shortest format of the game before he decided to hang up his boots in 2020.

In 78 T20Is, the southpaw amassed 1,605 runs at an average of 29.18 and a strike rate of 134.87.

The 34-year-old was the first Indian batsman and third overall to smash a century in a T20 international after he played a 60-ball 101 knock against South Africa in an ICC T20 World Cup Group C encounter in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia in 2010. That stellar hundred also helped Raina become the first Indian batsman to hit a century in all three formats of international cricket.

In the Indian T20 League, Raina has been a prolific run-scorer for MS Dhoni-led Chennai since the inaugural edition of the tournament. The Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer is the third-highest run-getter in the history of the league, aggregating 5,495 runs in 201 matches at an average of 32.90 and a strike rate of 136.79. He was instrumental in helping Chennai lift the Indian T20 League trophy thrice in 2010, 2011 and 2018.

Such was his consistency that Raina is the first and only player to have scored over 400 runs in seven consecutive Indian T20 League seasons between 2008 and 2014. Very few bowlers have managed to get the better of him in cricket’s shortest format on multiple occasions.

Bowlers who dismissed Suresh Raina the most in T20 cricket

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has dismissed Suresh Raina five times in T20 cricket, the most by any bowler in cricket’s shortest format. 

Apart from Harbhajan, leg-spinner Amit Mishra, South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine and Yuzvendra Chahal are some of the bowlers who have troubled Raina in T20s.

Featured photo: ARUN SANKAR /INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP