Suresh Raina celebrated his retention by Chennai Super Kings for the IPL 2018 by slamming a brilliant ton against Bengal in the ongoing Super League match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018.
Uttar Pradesh are playing Bengal at the Eden Gardens and decided to bat first when Suresh Raina won the toss on a placid Eden track. Ashoke Dinda gave Bengal a good start by removing Samarth Singh for a duck in the first over and then Writtick Chatterjee dismissed Shivam Chaudhary for 8.
But the day belonged to UP skipper Suresh Raina, who slammed his 4th ton in T20 format. His century came off just 49 balls and after a long run of poor scores (62 runs in 6 matches in tournament), Raina was desperate for a big innings and finally he got it.
From one left hander to another. In the former Captain @SGanguly99’s presence, @ImRaina hits a 49-ball century #BENvUP pic.twitter.com/knqpuixutZ
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 22, 2018
Together with Akshdeep Nath (80 off 43 balls; 7 fours, 4 sixes), Raina bludgeoned the Bengal bowlers as Mukesh Kumar went for 63 runs in his 4 overs, Sayan Ghosh went for 43 off his 3 overs and Manoj Tiwary went for 34 runs in 3 overs. The Raina-Nath partnership added 163 runs for the 3rd wicket for Uttar Pradesh.
Raina ended up with 126* off 59 balls with 13 fours and 7 sixes. UP made 235/3, which is the highest ever score in the history of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
