Nidahas Trophy 2018: Suresh Raina Surpasses MS Dhoni In T20Is

Suresh Raina is making the most of the hard-earned opportunity. The southpaw’s international career was totally off the track not very long ago.

The left-handed batsman has not played in One-Day Internationals since October 2015. Raina was recalled for the ODI series against New Zealand in 2016 but did not play a single game due to illness. Raina finally received a glimmer of hope after being recalled for the T20 series against England last year (2017). He fully capitalized on it by finishing the three-match series as its third highest run-scorer with 104 runs.

However, he once again fell down the pecking order and was not recalled into the team for quite some time. But his fortunes changed with his performance in this year’s Syed Mushtaque Ali Trophy. He was recalled for the T20I series in South Africa and fully justified the recall. He scored 145 runs in three games and also bagged the Man of the Match award in the last game.

His performance guaranteed him a spot in the squad for the ongoing Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka. And the southpaw is proving his mettle again.

Surpasses MS Dhoni:

Raina has scored 56 runs in three matches of the Nidahas Trophy so far. In doing so, he has gone past MS Dhoni in terms of the runs scored for India in T20Is. Raina has now scored 1452 runs in T20Is while Dhoni, who has been rested for the ongoing series, has 1444 runs to his name.

Raina achieved the feat during his 27-run knock against Bangladesh on Monday (March 12). The southpaw’s knock came off just 15 balls and was studded with 2 fours and as many sixes.

During the second match of the tournament against Bangladesh, Raina had achieved another special milestone. He became only the third Indian cricketer to hit 50 sixes in T20Is. The list is led by Yuvraj Singh (74) while Rohit Sharma is at second position with 69 sixes.