Happy Birthday Suresh Raina: Interesting facts about the CSK superstar

Former India cricketer Raina was born on Nov. 27, 1986, in Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

Raina s father Trilok Chand, who is a retired military officer, hails from Rainawari, Jammu, and Kashmir. His mother is from Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. However, his family has settled in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Raina married Priyanka on April 3, 2015, and they have a daughter and a son.

Raina rose through the ranks to become the captain of UP’s U-16 before making his U-19 debut as a 16-year-old during an England tour in 2002.

Raina was a part of the Indian team alongside future stars such as Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, and Robin Uthappa in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, where India lost in the semis.

Considered to be one of India’s best limited-overs batsmen in recent years, Raina started his ODI career with a golden duck vs Sri Lanka in 2005. Five years later, he scored a century on his Test debut, which was also against the same opponents – his only ton in Tests.

Raina’s 101 vs South Africa at the 2010 T20 World Cup in West Indies was the first century by an Indian batsman in T20I cricket.

Only three India batsmen have scored a century in the T20Is – Raina, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul.

Raina was the first Indian batsman to score a century in all the formats of the game – a feat that still eludes Virat Kohli. He struck five tons in ODIs and one each in Test and T20I.

When Raina led India as a 23-year-old (and 182 days), he became India’s third youngest skipper after MAK Pataudi (21 years and 77 days) and Sachin Tendulkar (23 years and 126 days). While he was the youngest to lead India in the T20Is, second youngest India’s ODI captain.

Raina, who missed the IPL 2020 due to personal reasons, is the leading run-scorer of CSK with 5,369 runs at an average of 33.98 with a high score of unbeaten 109. Overall, he is the second highest run-scorer in the IPL after Kohli (5,878 runs).

In 2015, Raina sang a song for a Bollywood film named ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters’ - it was a romantic number titled ‘Tu Mili Sab Mila’.