Suresh Raina

Some Lesser Known Facts About Suresh Raina

• Does Suresh Raina smoke?: No

• Raina belongs to a Kashmiri Pandit family from Anantnag district, Jammu & Kashmir.

• He spent much of his childhood in hostel staying away from home.

• He started playing professional cricket in 1999 at the sports college in Lucknow. 

• He was the skipper of the Under-16 Uttar Pradesh team.

• He has a habit of collecting his cricket bats and till now he has collected 250+ bats, including his first bat which was gifted by his father in 1998.

• He played his first Ranji Trophy game at the age of 16.

• On his ODI debut in 2005, he was dismissed for a ‘Golden Duck’ against Sri Lanka.

• During an ODI match against West Indies in the Tri-Series 2013, Raina and Ravindra Jadeja had a spat after Raina failed to take Sunil Narine’s catch on two occasions.

• He scored a century on his Test debut.

• He has never missed out on a single match for ‘Chennai Super Kings.’

• He has sung the song “Tu Mili Sab Mila” for a 2015 Bollywood film ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters.’

• He can play saxophone (woodwind instruments).

• He tied the nuptial knots with his childhood friend Priyanka Chowdhary.

• If he wasn’t a cricketer, he would have been a Basketball player.

• Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan are among his best friends in the Indian cricket team.

• He tattooed ‘Believe’ on his right arm. 

• On 15 August 2020, he joined Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he took to his Instagram account to announce his retirement from all formats of international cricket.

View this post on Instagram

It was nothing but lovely playing with you, @mahi7781 . With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey. Thank you India. Jai Hind! ??

A post shared by Suresh Raina (@sureshraina3) on Aug 15, 2020 at 7:36am PDT

• His love for food led him to open a restaurant, Raina Indian Restaurant, in Amsterdam in June 2023. While talking about the venture, Raina said,
  

  I have always been passionate about both cricket and food. Opening Raina Indian Restaurant is a dream come true for me, where I can showcase the diverse and vibrant flavors of India to people from all walks of life.”