Indian all-rounder Suresh Raina called it a day right after MS Dhoni announced his retirement. However, he gave an official letter to BCCI only on Sunday. Since then wishes are pouring for the him from all parts of the world.
BCCI had also made former as well as current cricketers go talk about Raina and his contributions to the team.
Talking about Raina, former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid said that Raina was a team man.
“Suresh Raina was one of those exciting talents who came through the Indian system in the middle of 2000s. He was playing Under-19 cricket and was doing exceptionally well. You could see even at that time that Suresh was going to be an important player for India. That really played out in the last decade and a half. In the last decade and a half, in all the memories and wins India had, Suresh was a major part of them. I think his contribution to Indian cricket, especially, the white ball cricket, were fantastic.
He is a World Cup winner, champions trophy winner. He is enthusiastic in the field and contributed more. His fielding was fantastic.
He did all the difficult things for India. He batted lower down the order. His numbers would have been lot better if he had played at the top-order. That has been shown out with the success he had in the IPL for CSK where he bats at number 3. He has a phenomenal record in IPL. But for India he batted down the order, fielded at difficult position and bowled a few overs. For me he has always been a terrific team man who brought lot of enthusiasm and energy to the game.”
Dravid also added that he wished he could’ve scored more in the Test cricket.
The 33-year-old world cup winner Raina said that it was a planned decision to retire on August 15th as it marked the end of 73rd year of Independence.
He said that he is getting ready for the IPL this year which will begin on September 19th.
Currently, most of the players in the CSK squad is in Chennai preparing for the season. They will start to UAE soon.