Suresh Raina bids adieu from all forms of cricket

Suresh Raina on Tuesday, 6th September 2022 announced his retirement from all forms of cricket including the Indian T20 League. Raina who was a gem in the Indian cricket fraternity was also an integral part of the four-time Indian T20 League-winning Chennai Franchise. Raina played his last competitive game for Chennai against Rajasthan in Abu Dhabi, last year in the month of October. He went unsold in the 2022 mega auctions earlier this year.

The formidable southpaw shared the dressing room with many other icons in the Indian Cricket team for many years and was also a vital cog of the 2011 World Cup winning side. Although Raina has represented India in all formats of the game, but his contributions to white-ball cricket are unparalleled.

Raina has played 226 ODI matches for his country in which he amassed 5615 runs at an average of 35.31.  In T20Is, the seasoned campaigner played 78 matches and scored 1065 runs. He was also the first Indian cricketer to score a century in the shortest format of the game.

Earlier, he announced his retirement from international cricket on the same day i.e. 15th August 2020, as India’s most successful skipper MS Dhoni. 

The 35-year-old released a statement about his decision via his official Twitter account on Tuesday. He mentioned that it has been an absolute honour to represent his country ‘India’ and state ‘Uttar Pradesh’ in cricket. 

This move now makes him available for competing in overseas T20 Leagues. Since an active domestic or Indian team player cannot participate in Overseas leagues, he needed to take this step to explore other franchise leagues in other parts of the world. There is a possibility of seeing him in South Africa’s new T20 League which will be held next year where all six teams are owned by Indian T20 League franchises including Chennai.

Chinna Thala as he was fondly called by the Chennai team, announced his retirement from all formats of the game and also expressed gratitude towards the Indian Cricket Board and the Chennai franchise amongst others. He also thanked his fans for their neverending love and trust in him.

"It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of Cricket. I would like to thank @IndianCricketBoard @UPCACricket @Chennai @ShuklaRajiv sir & all my fans for their support and unwavering faith in my abilities," said Raina on Twitter.

With this announcement, Suresh Raina has brought down the curtain on his illustrious career.