Suresh Raina creates history in IPL 2019, beats Virat Kohli to THIS record

The opening match of the Indian Premier League 2019 witnessed a low-scoring match with Chennai Super Kings bowling out Royal Challengers Bangalore for 70 on a sluggish pitch. In response, MS Dhoni’s men found the going tough but they managed to win by seven wickets to win their seventh consecutive game against Virat Kohli’s side and improve their overall record to 15-7 in Twenty20 encounters. During Chennai Super Kings’ innings, Suresh Raina created history and pipped Virat Kohli’s attempt at a new record. Before the match, Kohli needed 48 runs to get to the landmark while Raina needed 15 runs to get to the record. Kohli fell for 6 but Raina ensured he secured a place in the record books.

After a slow start, Raina muscled two fours off Moeen Ali and in the fifth ball of the ninth over bowled by Umesh Yadav, the left-hander hopped across and glanced a shortish ball to fine leg to become the first player in the history of the Indian Premier League to score 5000 runs. Raina is the leading run-getter in the IPL and he has also played the most games, 177 as compared to Dhoni’s 176. In his storied IPL career, he has an average of 34 with a strike-rate of 138 with 35 fifties and a century. The left-hander has been part of Chennai Super Kings’ three IPL title triumphs in 2010, 2011 and 2018.

RELATED

Raina is the only Indian cricketer to slam more than 8000 runs in Twenty20s, He is currently sixth in the all-time list of run-getters in Twenty20 cricket, with Chris Gayle leading the charts with 12318 runs followed by Brendon McCullum who has 9922 runs. Kieron Pollard is next on the list with 9037 runs followed by Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik who has smashed 8701 runs. David Warner, who will play for Sunrisers Hyderabad, has 8111 runs followed by Raina.

Chennai Super Kings will take on Delhi Capitals in the next game at the Feroz Shah Kotla on March 26 while Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Mumbai Indians in their first home encounter on March 28.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Suresh Raina became first to reach 5000 runs in IPL.
• CSK secured their seventh straight win against RCB.
• Virat Kohli needs 46 more runs to reach 5000 runs in IPL.