Suresh Raina received his maiden Test cap at the age of 24 against Sri Lanka in 2010 and impressed one and all with his batting brilliance.
The southpaw slammed 120 on his debut Test match at Colombo, helping India draw the match after the hosts posted a mammoth first innings total.
On Saturday (May 30), Raina recalled his Test debut and revealed that he couldn’t sleep the night before the game.
"Yuvi paa (Yuvraj Singh) had called me up the night before the Test match and said, 'I'm unwell, you be prepared'. He said 'chances are there that you'll play'. He probably had a stomach bug or a food infection, so he didn't play," Raina told former India opener and commentator Aakash Chopra on 'AakashVani'.
"I couldn't sleep the entire night because it was so hot in Sri Lanka. They had some big names in their team and it was going to be my Test debut."
The left-hander further said he was glad that India bowled first in that Test match as it gave him enough time out on the field to ease his nerves.
"Luckily we lost the toss and we had to field. So I observed the first two days and when my batting came I was ready. If we had batted (first), then probably I would've got a duck like my ODI debut," he said on a lighter note.
Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka piled up a staggering 642/4 (declared) in the first innings on the back of Kumar Sangakkara’s 219 and centuries from Mahela Jayawardena and (174) Tharanga Paranavitana (100).
In reply, India rode on Sachin Tendulkar’s glorious 203, Raina’s ton and half-centuries from Virender Sehwag (99), MS Dhoni (76) and Murali Vijay (58) to post 707 on the board. The high-scoring affair eventually ended in a draw.
Despite the fact that Raina got a dream start to his Test career, he could never establish himself in the longest format.
"People think T20 is easy, but we take so much risk in T20s, play the ball in the air. But that is not the case in ODI and Tests, you have to adjust and have good temperament," Raina said.
"Switching from white ball to red ball cannot be done overnight. You should take at least a couple of weeks practising leaving the ball; know where your fourth stump is. Perhaps I couldn't understand that balance. I did well in West Indies but was dismissed a lot against off-spinners, bouncers troubled me a few times too. So then I got engrossed in too much ODI cricket and didn't get enough chances in Tests," he concluded.
Overall, Sures Raina represented India in 18 Tests, scoring 768 runs at an average of 26.48 with one century and seven fifties.
(With IANS inputs)
