Suresh Raina
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A brief biography
As in 2020 Aug
Remembering the journey from Sonu to Suresh Raina, August 30, 2020: The Times of India
From: Remembering the journey from Sonu to Suresh Raina, August 30, 2020: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Military officer Trilokchand Raina's mastery at making bombs in an ordnance factory was only getting him a measly salary of rupees ten thousand a month. Not enough to give wings to his son Suresh's cricketing dreams.
But, more than two decades after those days of struggle, riding hard work, determination and luck, Raina ended his professional career as an international cricketer recently with plenty of success. Around the time when he was dreaming of making a career out of playing cricket, the fees in sports academies in Delhi would range from Rs 5000 to Rs 8000 a month.
And the Raina family, comprising eight members, found itself in a fix till it came to know of the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College in Lucknow.
The rest, as they say, is history.
"Papa was in the Army, my elder brother is also in the Army. Papa used to make bombs in an ordnance factory. He was a master at that," Raina said of his father on The Slow Interview by Neelesh Misra.
"He looked after the families of soldiers who had died. His was a very emotional work. This was tough, making sure that the money orders went and they received all the government benefits that they were eligible for, Raina, nickname Sonu, said."
Looking to provide a safe environment to his family, Trilokchand had left everything in Rainawari in Jammu and Kashmir following the killings of Kashmir Pandits in the 1990s.
But, having settled down in UP's Muradnagar, life was far from easy for the Raina family.
"It always felt that his principle in life was if you live - live for others. If you only live for yourself -- that's no living.
"I used to play and there was no money then. Papa earned ten thousand rupees. We were five brothers and one sister.
"Then I came for trial in the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College in Lucknow in 1998. We could not manage 10000 at that time.
"The fee was Rs 5000 for a year so papa said this he could afford. I did not want anything, I said let me play and study."
Raina says he is always wary of saying anything that would remind his father about the tragedy in Kashmir.
"There are certain things that my father doesn't want to remember, what happened with Kashmiri brahmins. So papa thought it better to take his family to a safe environment, that was one of the toughest decisions that papa made."
"He had a house there and his brothers. It was a wise decision, he had four sons and then I was born."
And even though he had been to Kashmir in recent years, Raina did not disclose it to his family, especially his father.
"I have been two to three times to the LOC. I went with Mahi bhai, we have quite a few friends who are commandos.
"So, whenever there were shows I wouldn't tell him. I was afraid. Afraid that he might relive it in his mind.
"And that he would worry that something would happen to me because he had seen the dangers there himself."
Moving to cricket, Raina recalled an advice Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni gave them as they began preparations for the 2011 World Cup -- not share any national team tactics with their IPL teammates from abroad.
"Dhoni started this, Sachin Tendulkar also said don't reveal anything to anyone, because the World Cup was coming up.
This started in 2008-09. In 2008, we won the tri-nation series in Australia. In 2009, we won in New Zealand. In 2010 we won in Sri Lanka. And then the World Cup."
He was full of praise for batting great Rahul Dravid, saying his contribution to Indian cricket is second to none.
"Rahul Dravid contributed a lot to Indian cricket's winning run from 2008 to 2011. He was a very strong leader and he was very disciplined.
"He does his work and doesn't care about the fruits, but I do feel that the fruits that the Indian team got were because of his hard work. That's a very good definition of him."
As far as his mentor Dhoni is concerned, Raina said what set the just-retired two-time World Cup winning captain apart was his honesty and selfless attitude.
"He is a very big captain. And he is a very good friend. And what he has achieved in the game I think he is the world's number one captain. He is also the world's best human being. Because he is very down to earth.
"His deeds are good. I have spent millions of days with him, travelling, playing he is very honest with his team. His honesty shows in his game. When he plays for the country, he always has his 10 men ahead and he stays behind. He is selfless."
Raina followed Dhoni into international retirement, with both deciding to call it quits on the same day.
Raina added, "Dhoni ensured that the players don't get distracted by all the fame and money. He sat with the team, discussed our performance, how to stay humble, he became a big brand.
"But he showed us how to do our work and perform. I could tell from his eyes that its two runs.”
Suresh Raina, career statistics, as in 2020 Aug
As in 2022 February
Dwaipayan Datta, February 15, 2022: The Times of India
From: Dwaipayan Datta, February 15, 2022: The Times of India
It was the summer of 2008. A blazing hot April afternoon in Chennai. A group of young hopefuls and a few India discards were training inside an empty MA Chidambaram Stadium for the newly-formed franchise Chennai Super Kings. Among the India discards was a 21-year-old Suresh Raina, dripping with sweat and running the laps with determination. When TOI caught up with him, Raina said: “I am thankful to CSK for banking on me. I will do my best to make the owners and fans happy. ”
For the next 10 years, the Uttar Pradesh boy kept his word. The left-hander, from being a fringe player, became ‘Mr IPL’, playing 176 matches for CSK and scoring 4687 runs. It reflected in his performances for the national team as well and he became a crucial cog in India’s 2011 World Cup-winning squad.
Even in the two years of CSK’s exile in 2016 and 2017, Raina was with the Gujarat Lions, but at heart he always remained a Super King. It’s true that his form had tapered off in the last few seasons, the most disappointing being 2021 when he was dropped at the business end of the tournament, but even the staunchest CSK fan would have hoped that one among the 10 franchises would show some interest in him.
Barring a miracle, it may well be the end of the road for Raina, still only 35. CSK have a number of players, including skipper MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa who too are on the wrong side of the 30s.
The team has brilliant trainers and physios who know how to keep senior players in shape. If Raina, once the heir apparent to Dhoni’s throne, was even half of his best, he might as well have found his place in the team. But it was evident CSK had given up on him.
The team management felt that the skillsets of the once undisputed No. 3 had deserted him in the last few years. He had put on weight, was no longer the brilliant fielder he used to be and the runs dried up. Players like Dhoni and Rayudu too had their tough patches, but both of them showed fantastic work ethic to keep delivering the goods.
Raina, despite a very poor run in the last edition, was given 12 games by Dhoni but simply couldn’t deliver, registering his lowest IPL average (17. 38) for a season. The respect for Raina was still there and when the management dropped him, Dhoni said in public that it was due to an injury.
The bond that Dhoni and Raina shared in the first 10 years of the IPL was incredible and it reflected in their performances for India. There was almost a sense of inevitability about the fact that the two would find a way to help the team come out of a tight corner, time and time again. When Dhoni was asked in Auckland about their chemistry, after the two won a difficult game for India in the 2015 World Cup against Zimbabwe, the then-India skipper laughed. “We just understand our games too well and know what to expect from each other,” he had said.
Such was their bonding that on 2020 Independence Day, when Dhoni dropped the bombshell that he would retire from international cricket, Raina followed suit. But in a month’s time, things suddenly went out of control when CSK had to send back Raina from Dubai for reasons that they have still not explained.
It was a surprise that Raina was retained for the 2021 season, but Dhoni forgot the bitterness of 2020 and gave the left-hander a fair go. But it was simply not to be for the player, who probably had lost the motivation.
That doesn’t take anything away from all that he did for CSK. “He was just an incredible match-winner for us. I remember the 2008 semifinal against Kings XI Punjab and the innings that he played. It was one of the many gems and will always be one of the greatest players ever to have played for CSK,” the team’s bowling coach L Balaji told TOI.
Probably one innings of that quality in 2021 IPL could have saved Raina’s CSK career. But then, every beautiful story doesn’t have a fairytale ending.
