IPL 2017: Top 5 Suresh Raina knocks in the IPL
Suresh Raina is probably one of India’s finest T20I players. He is consistent in the shorter formats of the game, which accentuate his strengths and play down his deficiencies, considering short balls are not as frequently used in ODIs and T20Is.
Nevertheless, Raina, who was as stable a Chennai Super Kings fixture as MS Dhoni was, has given us some sensational knocks over the year. He is a big-match player too, a quality that captains value highly.
While Raina’s prolific form has taken a back-seat in the last couple of seasons of IPL, even as he was overtaken by Virat Kohli as IPL’s highest run-getter, one expects more from the Gujarat Lions southpaw this season. Raina has 4098 runs in 143 innings, second only to Virat’s 4110.
He is also third on the list of most sixes, 160. Raina also has the second fastest IPL fifty in just 16 balls. Here, we recount five of his fascinating IPL innings.
#5 73(50) v Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai, 1 st Qualifying Final, 2011
A winning contribution from Raina in a big match, this came in dire adversity. Chasing a hefty 176 set by RCB, thanks to an unbeaten 44-ball 70 by Virat Kohli, CSK found themselves in trouble at 7 for 2 in the second over.
Raina blazed four fours and six sixes against a decent bowling attack that had Zaheer Khan and Daniel Vettori. In a tight match, the UP-batsman was unbeaten till the end, scoring at 146. He added 63 with Badrinath and 61 with his skipper MS Dhoni, who scored 29 of those runs.
It helped that Albie Morkel smashed a 10-ball 28, a cameo that ensured CSK galloped to the target with two balls to spare. Raina was the Player of the Match.
The two teams would meet again in the final where Murali Vijay’s scintillating 95 will give them the trophy. That was entirely possible only thanks to Raina’s knocks in one of his more productive IPL seasons, where he scored 438 runs.