Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina opened up about playing alongside Sachin Tendulkar and the moments they shared on field.
I had many memorable moments with paaji once I started playing for India. The biggest one obviously is winning the 2011 World Cup, but apart from that, winning the CB series in Australia [in 2008], the ODI and Test series in New Zealand [in 2008-09] and becoming the No. 1 Test team,” he told The Cricket Monthly.
Raina was on the other side when Tendulkar got to his 100th international hundred. It came against Bangladesh off Shakib Al Hasan’s bowling.
“I was at the other end when paaji scored his 100th international hundred. After he took a single off Shakib [Al Hasan] to reach the milestone, I congratulated him saying, “Well done, paaji, it was due for so many months.” He said, “My hair has turned grey waiting for this moment.” That’s when I realised how much mental weight he was carrying all that while,” Raina recalled.
Raina also told The Cricket Monthly how his bond with Tendulkar grew after the latter’s retirement.
He added that in 2014, Raina called him up and told that he wanted to practice with him and Tendulkar immediately spent two weeks helped out Raina with his batting.
One day during practice he told me, “You have to believe in yourself, you have to believe you can do miracles.” It charged me up so much, the same evening I got a tattoo on my biceps saying “Believe”,” he added.
Suresh Raina retired from international cricket on August 15th 2020 and he had to miss out the Indian Premier League due to family issues. He will be back now to lead Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
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