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Indian left-handed batsman Suresh Raina announced a sudden retirement from international cricket last week. Raina’s announcement came just minutes after former Indian captain MS Dhoni announced his decision to hang up his international shoes. Raina and Dhoni posted on Instagram to reveal their decisions. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra said Raina’s announcement was completely unexpected.
“It was actually a flash of blue. And there are 2-3 reasons for this. Firstly, Raina is only 33 years old, so he’s quite young, ”Chopra said in the last video uploaded to his Youtube channel.
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“The second thing is that we recently did an interview with Suresh Raina in which he regularly said that he was looking forward to playing for India again. He said he was doing his best and would score a lot of points. He said after his knee surgery he felt stronger and hit the ball well, ”said the former Indian batsman.
“I was very happy because Raina is a special player and there were two T20 World Cups coming in two years, so why not Raina. Thirty-three is not an age for a guy as fit as Suresh Raina, ”he added.
“And then he would post videos on Instagram, etc. where he practiced regularly and made a lot of effort. When you see someone trying so hard, you feel like it’s going to happen. In fact the only thing I was looking forward to was for him to play for CSK and score a lot of points and force the selectors to pick him, ”explained Chopra.
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Chopra then recalled Raina’s accomplishments during his cricket career and said he was not properly handled in ODIs by the Indian team. “He was the first Indian cricketer to score a century in testing, ODI and T20I. After KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma also did, Virat Kohli still hasn’t, the T20 century is still pending. He scored a century in his test debut against Sri Lanka. After that his Test career was top to bottom, but he didn’t have so many chances, ”said Chopra.
“If you see the lefties that India has produced to date, Suresh Raina’s name would be right up there. He was one of the best left-handed batsmen the country has produced, one of the best white ball cricketers the world has ever seen. If you include his IPL numbers as well, then you would say a runaway winner and absolutely a champion player, ”he added.
“There would be very few players on the field of his level. He would be among the top 5, a versatile defender. Because there are a lot of fielders who don’t catch well on slips but are good in the outfield like Jaddu. Ravindra Jadeja is an outfielder but is slightly difficult on the slides. Even Jonty Rhodes couldn’t catch the slips well. Suresh was one of the best field players the world has ever seen, ”he added.
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“Raina was also an undervalued bowler, the way he played with clean action, putting the ball in one spot and picking out crucial wickets. It was like playing an extra man. I can sense what happened with Suresh Raina in ODI cricket, all was not right. Because he didn’t get the correct stick number. He did not get the n ° 3 or n ° 4 position, he was always sent n ° 5 to n ° 7 ”, continued Chopra.
“Sometimes he was fired and then demoted. If you mix up someone’s batting order so much, you often won’t be able to guarantee your spot. But this player secured his place and also won us matches.
“I actually remember the 2011 World Cup where he was beating at No.6 or No.7 and not going to bat. And then one day it came against Australia in the quarterfinals, where Yuvraj Singh had a winning round, but it was necessary for someone to stand on the other end and score on run-a-ball to relieve Yuvraj Singh and that’s exactly what he did. We remember that match for Yuvraj Singh but Raina made a huge contribution to it, ”he added.
“Raina deserved better. I think Raina could have been managed a lot better. Because when he made a comeback too, in one of the three games he scored 40-50 I think and in one game he didn’t stay out and was fired at the start of the other game. But he was unlucky after that, ”signed Aakash Chopra.
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