Having guided CSK to their second CLT20 trophy, Suresh Raina said that he has matured as a player taking cues from his contemporaries including Virat Kohli, who has shown the way with big hundreds in ODI cricket.
“I have learnt a lot in these seven years. In the earlier years, there used to be Matthew Hayden along with Mike Hussey and also our coach Stephen Fleming, who helped me mature. In the Indian team, I learnt a lot from watching Virat Kohli convert starts into big hundreds in ODI cricket. Not to forget my partnerships with Dhoni. Also like to mention Yuvraj Singh’s name,” a beaming Raina said in a post-match interview.
Chasing a competitive total of 181, Raina smashed the daylights out of a depleted KKR attack without Sunil Narine, scoring a breathtaking 109 off 62 balls with the help of six fours and eight sixes. His century came off only 59 balls.
Fitting enough, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finished the match with a flourish as he hit successive sixes off Yusuf Pathan as CSK won with nine balls to spare.
Having broken the trophy jinx after three years, Raina said that team environment has been key to CSK’s success.
“We have amazing players like Baz (Brendon McCullum), Faf (du Plessis) and Bravo and it’s an amazing atmosphere,” said Raina.
Skipper Dhoni was all praise for spinner Pawan Negi, who grabbed five wickets, giving away only 22 runs.
“Negi is not afraid to toss the ball. It was important to do that to get something out of the wicket. Just like Kuldeep was also not afraid to toss the ball. He has that variety and will only mature as he graduates into international cricket,” said Dhoni.
