Suresh Raina’s Test debut came five years after he made his international debut. On both occasions, he had played Sri Lanka away from home. But the two were as different as two innings can be. While Raina began his illustrious limited-overs career with a first-ball duck off Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan in 2005, he scored 120 in his maiden Test innings in 2010.
“Yuvi paa (Yuvraj Singh) had called me up the night before the Test match and said, ‘I’m unwell, you be prepared’. He said ‘chances are there that you’ll play’. He probably had a stomach bug or a food infection, so he didn’t play,” Raina told former India opener and commentator Aakash Chopra on AakashVani.
“I couldn’t sleep the entire night because it was so hot in Sri Lanka, they had some big names in their team and it was going to be my Test debut.”
“Switching from white ball to red ball cannot be done overnight. You should take at least a couple of weeks practising leaving the ball; know where your fourth stump is. Perhaps I couldn’t understand that balance. I did well in West Indies but was dismissed a lot against off spinners, the bouncers troubled me a few times too. So then got engrossed in too much ODI cricket and I didn’t get enough chance in Tests,” Raina said.
