Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina married his childhood friend Priyanka Chaudhary on April 3, 2015. While they were from the same locality and knew each other as children, the marriage was arranged by their mothers while he was in Australia for the Cricket World Cup.

They have a daughter named Gracia Raina who was born on May 14, 2016 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On the occasion of her first birthday, he and his wife announced the launch of the non-profit organization, Gracia Raina Foundation, which promotes the well-being of underprivileged mothers and their children across the country.

Suresh Raina was born on November 27, 1986 in Muradnagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where his father Trilok Chand, a retired military officer, had relocated. His father, a member of the Kashmiri Pandit community, is originally from Rainawari, in Jammu & Kashmir, while his mother is from Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh.

He has three older brothers Dinesh Raina, Naresh Raina and Mukesh Raina and one elder sister Renu. Dinesh, who is eight years older than Suresh, is a school teacher.

In 2000, at the age of 14, Suresh Raina decided to focus on cricket and moved to Lucknow to attend the specialist government college, Guru Gobind Singh Sports College. By 2002, he had become the captain of the Uttar Pradesh U-16 team and caught the attention of national selectors who named the 15 and half years old boy to the U-19 team for England.

He made a couple half-centuries as part of the U-19 team, and was selected for the U-17 team for their tour of Sri Lanka in late 2002. In February 2003, at the age of 16, he made his Ranji Trophy debut against Assam, playing only one match.

He was again named to the U-19 team to Pakistan for the Asian ODI Championship in late 2003 and for the 2004 U-19 World Cup, in which he scored three half-centuries. His tremendous form gave him an opportunity to train at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide under the Border-Gavaskar scholarship.

In January 2005, he made his List A debut against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament and scored 94 on debut in the Deodhar Trophy, aggregating 645 runs in 15 matches. He was selected for Board President's XI against Pakistan at Dharmasala in March and in April played for Astley & Tyldesley Cricket Club in the Lancashire League, scoring 865 runs in 12 matches.

Suresh Raina made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on July 29, 2005, but fell for a first-ball duck to a Muttiah Muralidaran doosra. Despite showing potential in First Class cricket, he struggled to perform throughout 2006, and had an average of only 27.77 in 26 ODIs.

During the end of 2006, he was dropped from the squad following poor performance in the ODI series against South Africa. Chennai Super Kings bought him for $650k in the 2008 IPL, which he finished with 421 runs including three fifties.

His performance in T20 did not go unnoticed as he was recalled to the Indian side for the 2008 Asia Cup, in which he showed good performances. This time he utilized the opportunity to cement his place in the team, even though he had to settle for lower-order due to the solid top-order line-up.

With his exceptional performance in the limited-over matches, he was called into the Indian Test team for the second Test during South Africa's tour to India in 2010. While he was not included into the playing XI in that match, he made a century on his debut match against Sri Lanka on July 26, 2010.

His weakness against short deliveries was exposed during the England Test series in 2011, and he was dropped from the Test squad after averaging 28 in 16 Tests. However, his ability to play quick knocks and his impeccable fielding made him a vital member of the ODI and T20 teams.