It Hurts When People Equate my Connection With MS Dhoni For Spot in Indian Team: Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina shares a great camaraderie with MS Dhoni.
India’s former batsman Suresh Raina has stated that it hurts when people equate his connection with MS Dhoni with a spot in the Indian team. It is well known that Raina shares a great bonhomie with MS Dhoni and many people believe that the Uttar Pradesh batsman took undue advantage of his bond with MS as got his chances in the national team.
In fact, Suresh Raina last played an International match back in 2018 in the T20I series against England. As he wasn’t getting consistent chances in the national team, Raina decided to hang his boots on the same day MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket.
Raina wrote in his autobiography, Believe that he worked hard for his opportunities and Dhoni never favoured him in the Indian team and there was never any kind of favouritism. The southpaw batsman added that Dhoni knew how to get the best out of him.
“Dhoni knew how to get the best performance out of me, and I trusted him. When people equate our connection with a spot for me in the Indian team, it hurts a lot. I’ve always worked hard to win my spot in Team India, just as I’ve earned Dhoni’s faith and respect,” Raina wrote.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina had done a fine job for the Indian team in the middle-order as he mostly added the finishing touches. Raina scored 5615 runs in 226 ODI matches at an impressive average of 35.31. Furthermore, the left-hander amassed 1604 runs in 78 T20I matches at an average of 29.16.
Raina recently played for Chennai Super Kings under the leadership of MS Dhoni. The left-hander scored 123 runs in six innings in IPL 2021 before the tournament was indefinitely postponed by BCCI. The second phase of IPL 2021 will begin from September 19 in the UAE and the final will be played on October 15.