Although Suresh Raina has been MS Dhoni's deputy at Chennai Super Kings for over a decade, the left-handed batter garnered a healthy fan base at the Chepauk stadium and across the country. His outstanding performances donning the yellow jersey has left an indelible impression on the minds of his fans.
Playing at number 3, balancing the middle-order is something that requires a knack and proper understanding of the game, the dashing southpaw diligently disposed of his responsibilities almost all the time he stepped into the ground. Not only did Raina win hearts for his batting, but his fielding has also been of top-notch standards. The trademark shot lofted inside-out drive displays his sheer brilliance as a batsman.
With staggering records to his name, Raina on Tuesday decided to hang up his boots from all forms of cricket, which opens up new opportunities for the batting all-rounder to play overseas T20 leagues.
Mr IPL's journey in numbers
Raina was part of the four titles -- 2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021 -- with CSK. In 2010, when the Dhoni-men lifted their first IPL trophy, Raina scored an emphatic 520 runs laced with four half-centuries in 16 matches, while in 2011, he amassed a total of 438 runs. In 2018 too he was seen on top of batting charts as he scored 445 runs. He still remains the highest run-getter for the side with 4687 runs from 176 matches. Raina's last IPL game was in October 2021 and the southpaw was released by CSK ahead of 2022 season.
Raina is the first Indian cricketer and the second player to hit 100 sixes in the Indian Premier League. Adding to this, he has the highest number of catches, 109, in the IPL. The batting all-rounder is the first Indian bastman to score 5,000 runs in IPL and the third highest indiviual scorer for CSK with an unbeaten century.
Besides his IPL records, Raina is the only Indian cricketer to have scored all his seven international centuries overseas.