On Monday, the veteran Indian cricketer, Suresh Raina became the first Indian batsman to surpass the tally of 8000 T20 runs. He went past the 8000-run mark when he scored 12 runs for Uttar Pradesh in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019 T20 game against Puducherry in Palam B Stadium, Dehli.
Raina is the sixth batsman overall to achieve the milestone. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star has a total of 8001 runs from 300 matches, 178 runs more than the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who has 7833 from 251 matches.
The Windies opener, Chris Gayle leads the chart with 12,298 runs in 269 matches while former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum is second on the list with 9922 runs from 370 games. Kieron Pollard (8838), Shoaib Malik (8603), and David Warner (8111) are the other players in the top five run-getters list in T20 cricket.
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Raina also became the second India cricketer to have played 300 T20 matches. Former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni top the list with 301 matches while India’s limited-overs deputy skipper, Rohit Sharma is third with 299 matches so far.
Only a few days ago, Raina joined Rohit Sharma in the list of Indian batsmen with 300 sixes in T20 cricket. Sharma, who has hit 326 sixes in 299 matches.
Raina has been in ordinary form in the ongoing domestic T20 tournament. From four matches, he has just scored 70 runs, which includes an unbeaten half-century in Uttar Pradesh’s win over Hyderabad last week. Despite their senior pro’s dip in form, Uttar Pradesh is on top of the Group E table with three wins from four matches.
In IPL 2019, Raina will turn up for CSK starting March 23 in Chennai. Defending champions CSK will face Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the tournament opener.
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Meanwhile, Suresh hinted he hasn’t given up hopes of making the India squad at the 2019 World Cup, starting May 30 in England and Wales. Talking to Times Now, he said, “I have always given my best to the team I play for, be it national, domestic or IPL. And, I’ll continue to do so during any upcoming matches too, irrespective of the circumstance. But yes, who wouldn’t want to lift the World Cup twice.”
