The journey of out-of-favour Indian left-hander Suresh Raina has been a tumultuous one at the international level. Making his debut in Sri Lanka, way back in 2005, he gained a formidable reputation of being a sensational stroke maker in white-ball cricket.
After a few seasons at the highest level, Raina lost his place in the side due to injury. But the southpaw made his way back into the team in 2008.
Despite being in and out from the Indian XI, Raina made sure he featured for India in all formats of the game.
The UP stalwart holds the records of scoring tons in all formats of the game for India along with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. Raina also impressed at the Test level by scoring a ton on debut in Sri Lanka in 2010.
Raina was even part of the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian squad, where he scored precious cameos at vital junctures of the tournament.
Backed by MS Dhoni, he formed the core of the Indian middle-order until the 2015 ODI World Cup. However, one bad series against South Africa in the same year forced him to receive the axe from the selectors.
Raina dealt with fitness issues but fought his way back in the side during the 2016 Australia T20I series. Then, the southpaw was a regular in the Indian T20 side until the 2018 England tour.
From there on, Raina was never looked at for a berth in the Indian team. He is amongst the leading run-scorer for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in franchise cricket over the years.
His teammate at CSK, Ambati Rayudu, has backed Raina to make a comeback in the Indian side. “He has a lot of cricket left in him..I am putting a bet on it that he would make a comeback for India,” Rayudu told CSK presenter Rupha Rumani.
