Recently, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh had taken a jibe at Suresh Raina calling him MS Dhoni’s favorite player during the latter’s captaincy reign. 

Raina had made his India debut under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid but flourished under the guidance of MS Dhoni. However, his form and career well away when Virat Kohli took over as he last played for India in 2018.

Dhoni really backed Raina during 2011 World Cup, says Yuvraj Singh

Replying to his senior Yuvraj’s jibe of ‘favorite cricketer’, Raina said, “I would say MS definitely supported me, he supported me because he knew I have talent, and I’ve done it for him, CSK and Team India, whenever he supported me. The best part about him is that he will tell you after two games, ‘If you don’t score, I’ve to take a big step.’ I said just give me one or two games, I will make sure not to repeat mistakes.”

Talking about the difficulties playing in the middle order, Raina explained, “You know, middle-order isn’t easy, every game you play sometimes you bat for 10-15 overs and sometimes for 30 overs. Our position is different and we’ve to chip in with the ball, we’ve to get 2-3 wickets and we’ve to save 15-20 runs. Middle-order has always been challenging for me, but, I’ve always taken everything positively.”

Suresh Raina sees a lot similarities between Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni as captain

Raina, in a conversation with Fan Code, also thanked MS Dhoni for backing him during his India days and said that he was the best ever captain India had after Sourav Ganguly.

“I am thankful to MS because he’s always been my great admirer and he always knew what sort of talent I have. I think its all destiny. He’s the greatest captain we had after Dada, so I think we should really enjoy things when we play the World Cup,” Raina said.

“God has been kind in all difficult situations, it’s difficult to say now that I got less or more chances, I am happy that I was part of that WC, he supported me, I delivered, so I think I can’t ask for more,” Raina concluded.