Hit 25-ball 87 after watching Sehwag’s ton: Raina tells Ashwin

Chennai, April 24 (IANS) Former Chennai Super Kings teammates Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin recalled the southpaw’s whirlwind innings against Kings XI Punjab during the 2014 edition of the Indian Premier League. With no cricket being played due to coronavirus pandemic, former and current players are engaging with fans on social media to keep themselves entertained.

Raina joined Ashwin for a live video chat session on popular social media platform Instagram and the duo spoke about various things during their time together at CSK.

Ashwin put on the anchor’s hat and asked Raina about his 25-ball 87 which he hit in a losing cause against KXIP at the inconic Wankhede Stadium in Qualifier 2 in 2014.

“Do you remember that video game-like match against Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai? We were chasing somewhere around 230 in the match. You hit everything for either four or six in the first few overs.

Raina’s innings included 12 boundaries and six maximums and his strike rate at the end of the innings read 348. The southpaw’s innings gave CSK a fighting chance in the huge chase but couple of run outs meant they crashed out of the tournament.

Sehwag was named the Man of the Match for his blistering century. He took apart the likes of Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin as he struck 122 off just 58 deliveries, including 12 fours and eight sixes.

“I think when I saw Viru bhai hitting I thought the wicket is definitely very good to bat on. After KXIP innings when we were going back into the dressing room, I kept telling myself to be calm,” Raina told Ashwin.

“I was in a different zone in that match because I saw Viru bhai hitting from all the angles.. from slip, from point, from the covers. After I saw him hitting with the straight bat, I told myself I will also the use the same approach.

“Calmness made me believe we can chase the score. I think me and MS believed we could do it. I was very happy when almost every ball came out of the middle of the bat,” he added.

–IANS

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