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MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina (Source - Twitter)
Former India batter Suresh Raina revealed the reason behind his retirement right after former Indian captain MS Dhoni’s retirement on 15th August 2020. Raina wasn’t able to make it to the national team for a long time due to his bad form. He even lost his place from the Chennai-based franchise in the Indian T20 League.
Many fans were left stunned when Dhoni announced his retirement during the Covid-19 pandemic. Raina played for a long time in his career under Dhoni in the cash-rich league and in the national team when the Dhoni-led team was dominating world cricket. The former left-hander talked about the same and said that he played for Dhoni first and then for the country.
“We played so many matches together. I was fortunate to play with him for India, and with CSK. We got a lot of love. I've come from Ghaziabad, Dhoni from Ranchi. I played for MS Dhoni, then I played for the country. That's the connection. We've played so many finals, we won the World Cup. He's a great leader and a great human being,” Raina said as he explained the decision.
Suresh Raina is popular for his brilliant fielding display
Talking about Raina’s international career, he played 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is, and 18 Test matches in his career. He scored 5615 runs with an average of 35.31 while smashing 5 hundreds and 36 half-centuries. In T20Is, he scored 1605 runs with an average of 29.18 which included 1 hundred and 5 half-centuries. Raina didn’t get a lot of opportunities in the older format as in 18 matches, he scored 768 runs at an average of 26.48 with 1 century and 7 fifties.
However, he performed really well in the Indian T20 League as he played 205 matches in his career and smashed 5528 runs at an average of 32.52 with a strike rate of 136.76. He also smashed a hundred and has 39 half-centuries. Dhoni used Raina many times as a part-time spinner as he picked 25 wickets in his cash-rich league career. Dhoni is expected to retire in the upcoming edition of the Indian T20 League this year.