Suresh Kumar Raina
Raina was born on 27 November 1986, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Raina has been a member of the Indian cricket team for ODIs since July 2005. Even though he was selected for the Test squad in the early 2006, has yet to make his Test debut. Domestically he plays for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy and Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy. He is primarily a left-hand batsman, a superb fielder who is known for his ability to hit the stumps from the infield and an occasional off-spinner known for breaking partnerships.
An aggressive young batsman who has dismantled bowling attacks across the country. His consistent performances at the junior levels landed him a spot in India Under 19 squad. His 620 runs in six games, in the 2005-06 season, propelled Uttar Pradesh to Ranji Trophy glory and a couple of composed knocks, when given the opportunity in one-dayers, got Rahul Dravid to gush: "Raina has shown what a phenomenal player he can turn into."
Raina had a difficult start to his international career, being dismissed for a golden duck by a doosra from spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. With the return of Ganguly from suspension, Raina was omitted from the starting XI for the tour of Zimbabwe. He continued in the Indian team mostly as a supersub, but got another chance to become a regular member of the Indian middle order during the 2006 tour of Pakistan, after vice-captain Virender Sehwag returned home injured. He was only required to bat in one match, in which he helped guide the latter part of the successful run chase in the fourth ODI.
His electric fielding added boost to the one day side and cricketers started rating him as the future of Indian cricket. However, his early promise turned into a false dawn - he couldn't manage a half-century in 15 innings and lost his place in the one-day side on the South African tour. He played two ODIs in January 2007 but was not recalled until a year later, when India named their 16-man squad for the CB Series in Australia. Raina finally played to his true potential in the Asia Cup, slamming two centuries and finishing the second-highest run-getter.
On 25 June 2008, he scored his maiden hundred against Hong Kong during Asia Cup. His 66 balls hundred was at the time, the second fastest century in Indian ODI history. He scored 84 of 69 against Pakistan and 116 of 107 against Bangladesh, in next two matches. Hence, he won man of the match award successively for three times.
Raina played for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League in 2008 and 2009. His bowling has proven more useful in the shortest version of the game: in 2009 he had the fifth best economy rate in the IPL among those bowlers who delivered more than 20 overs.
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