Suresh Raina reveals how his wife motivated him during tough times

Published - 20 Feb 2018, 01:59 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:21 AM

Suresh Raina and his wife (Credits: Twitter)

Table of Contents

Suresh Raina’s career was not turning out as expected in the last couple of years. The southpaw recently returned to the team for the ongoing three-match Twenty20 International series against South Africa.

An integral part of the limited-overs team not very long ago, Raina fell down the pecking order in the last couple of years.

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.

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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, a few months later, he proved his worth with yet another impressive IPL season, scoring 442 runs in 14 matches which led to his inclusion in the standby list for the Champions Trophy.

Raina played against England earlier this year (Credits: AFP)

But surprisingly the selectors gave him a cold shoulder thereafter. Media reports suggested that he failed the mandatory ‘Yo-Yo’ endurance test twice. His poor form in the Trophy only made things tough for him.

Raina last played an ODI in October 2015 (Credits: BCCI)

However, things turned around when he finally cleared the fitness test. After that, he performed well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. The performance helped him return to the national team.

Back with the team now, Suresh Raina is hell-bent to prove the naysayers wrong. He also revealed how his wife Priyanka helped him remain on track during the tough phase.

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Raina with teammates in South Africa (Credits: Twitter)

“Even when I was injured, I never stopped working hard. I went to Holland and trained for eight weeks, as training in India would have been difficult. There is a lot of pressure here – of appearances, friends’ invitations, other commitments – so it was Priyanka who persuaded me to go to Holland and spend eight weeks there. And those eight weeks transformed me,” Raina added.

“My wife may not understand cricket very well, but she wants to me score 100 or 150. She would also fight with me initially when I would not score well on the field (laughs), but she knew what I needed most at that point of time. It was my belief and passion in the game that kept me going. That phase made me a wiser person. In our field, you are dismissed too easily, but you know where you are lacking and you can work hard on that. People change their perception as soon as you score a 100,” Raina concluded.