In 2007, Raina suffered a career-ending knee injury which left him bedridden for six months. Due to this injury, he was left out of India’s 2007 T20 World Cup squad.
The left-handed batter talked about how he dealt with the mental stress of never being able to compete again, the physical pain of being on crutches, and how his family and friends became his guiding light in dark times.
In the show ‘Home of Heroes’, a JioCinema original, Suresh Raina said, “When I got injured, more than physical it was mental stress that was taking a toll on me. My family asked me to focus on recovery and not worry about the loan I had taken. The other thing that was eating me up was if I will ever get a chance again because the competition was so tough and the 2007 T20 World Cup was coming up.”
“Then I decided to leave my fate in the hands of God and focused on having a good time with friends and family as this was a chance to spend time with them as I never spent more than 10-20 days in a year at home since 1998. So, with the love and blessing of my family, I waded through the choppy waters quite easily,” Raina added.
Raina’s mindset got to a point where he thought he might never come back from his injury and play cricket again. “Yes, that thought did cross my mind. I was stressed about the financial position that I and the family were in, especially after I took a loan. And if I don’t play again, it would all be over. I realised that what was in my control is to strengthen my knee and everything else will follow,” Raina signed off. Raina however overcame the injury and made a return back to the Indian squad. He ended up playing 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20 International for the Indian team. He ended up scoring 768 runs in the Test format, and 5,615 runs in the ODI format with an average of 35.3. While in the T20I format, he struck 1,605 runs with a strike rate of 134.9.
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