New Delhi: Former India all-rounder Suresh Raina recalled his early days, when he
was playing the Times Shield Trophy in Mumbai, and how he was was benumbed by the appearance of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
Raina was no different from the millions of Tendulkar fans. when Raina meet Little Master, Raina himself had a fan moment with ‘the God of Cricket’ .
In his first meeting with the iconic batsman Raina recalled “I remember Sachin came for practice wearing a Sahara jersey and carrying two MRF bats. Meeting him was a fan moment. At the same time, it inspired me to pursue my dream of representing India. I had watched his Sharjah knocks on TV. When India toured Australia in 1999, my brothers and I would wake up early to catch the action. We were in awe of his straight drive. That high elbow, steady head, perfect feet position, everything just looked so balanced,” Raina said.
Even though Sachin Tendulkar retired from international cricket in 2013, Raina claims that his bond with the ‘Master Blaster’ remains strong as ever. The southpaw revealed that prior to India’s tour of England in 2014, he had contacted Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai and asked him to help him out on his batting. Raina said that he trained for two weeks with Tendulkar near the cricketer’s Mumbai residence.
“Paaji gave me two full weeks and I practiced with him and Sameer Dighe for three hours every day for two weeks at the Bandra Kurla Complex. One day during practice he told me, ‘You have to believe in yourself, you have to believe you can do miracles.’ He got so motivated by the batting legend, that he decided to get a tattoo on his biceps saying ‘Believe’ the very same evening. Those two weeks of preparation put me in a completely different zone. In the first game in England, I scored 100 off 75 balls and won the Man-of-the-Match award. When I checked my phone after the game, there was a congratulatory message from paaji, saying, “Always believe in yourself”. We went on to win the series 3-1 and I was named Man of the Series. Things like these, apart from playing with him, I am going to cherish forever.” Raina added.
Raina was at the non-striker’s end when Tendulkar got to one of his many remarkable batting feats of his career, the 100th international century. Against Bangladesh in the 2012 Asia cup.
“After he took a single off Shakib to reach the milestone, I congratulated him saying, ‘Well done, paaji, it was due for so many months.’ He said, ‘My hair has turned grey waiting for this moment.’ That’s when I realised how much mental weight he was carrying all that while.”
The left-hander also said that being at the non-striker’s end as Tendulkar scored his 100th century was one of the many memorable moments he shared with the Master Blaster.
Last year, Raina bid adieu to international cricket along with MS Dhoni. He announced his retirement on 15th August, weeks before the start of the much-awaited cash-rich League. Raina also withdrew from IPL 2020 citing personal reasons. Raina returned to nets after a long gap. The former India batsman trained along with his Uttar Pradesh teammates for the upcoming domestic season, which will start with Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy scheduled to kickstart from January 10.
