Birthday special: Top 3 records held by Suresh Raina in IPL

Indian legend Suresh Raina turned a year older and celebrated his 36th birthday on Saturday, November 27. The former professional Indian batter is currently in Abu Dhabi representing his franchise Deccan Gladiators in the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10 league.

Widely regarded as one of the most skilful and eye-pleasing batters of his generation, Raina made his international debut back in 2005 against Sri Lanka. Having played 322 international games for the Men in Blue, the stylish left-hander amassed 7988 runs, including 48 fifties and seven centuries.

👕 322 international games
🏏 7,988 runs
💯 7 centuries

👕 205 IPL games
🏏 5,528 runs
😎 39 50+ scores

🏆 World Cup Winner: 2011
🏆 Champions Trophy Winner: 2013
🏆 IPL Winner: 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021
🏆 CL T20 Winner: 2010, 2014

Happy birthday to Indian ace, @ImRaina 🎉🥳 https://t.co/qlJSr7aoHJ

Aside from his heroics in the blues of India, Raina had been the face of the Indian Premier League (IPL) since its inception in 2008 as well.

With as many as 5568 runs in 200 IPL innings, Raina accomplished many unimaginable feats in his IPL career.

In his 14-year-long IPL career, the world-class batter created numerous individual records. On the occasion of his 36th birthday today, let's take a look at the top three IPL records that are in the name of Suresh Raina.

#3 Most catches taken by a non-wicket-keeper

Apart from being a destructive hitter, Raina has always been an outstanding fielder throughout his career. The fact that he rarely dropped a catch while playing for India or for his IPL franchise, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Raina holds the record for taking the most number of catches (apart from wicket-keepers).

In 205 IPL games he has played, Raina has taken a total of 109 catches, six more than Keiron Pollard, who is second on the list with 103 grabs.

#2 Raina scored the most runs by a batter in an IPL powerplay

On this day in 2014 - Suresh Raina played the greatest knock of IPL history - 87 from 25 balls in Qualifier 2. https://t.co/E5gr2NJTJb

Famous for his sublime stroke-making abilities, Raina put on a blistering show and played an innings which was one for the ages in the IPL.

During Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2014 against Punjab Kings, Raina came on the third ball of CSK's innings and clobbered 87 runs off just 25 balls inside the powerplay. This is the most a batter has scored in a powerplay of a T20 game, let alone in an IPL fixture.

To date, no other batter has been able to match Raina's tally of 87 runs in an IPL powerplay. Adam Gilchrist is second on the list with 74 runs in 2009 against Delhi.

#1 Raina has played the most consecutive matches for an IPL team

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The southpaw also has a unique milestone to his name, having played 158 consecutive matches for his beloved franchise, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). This is the best successive tally a player has appeared in for a particular T20 franchise.

Since CSK's inaugural IPL game against Punjab in 2008, Raina featured in all of CSK's fixtures until their second game of IPL 2018.

Having always given his all and hardly missed a game for his team, there's a reason why Raina is remembered as "Mr. IPL."