‘Rahul Dravid was very influential in my overall development as a person’ – Suresh Raina hails ‘guru’ Dravid’s influence


‘Rahul Dravid was very influential in my overall development as a person’ – Suresh Raina hails ‘guru’ Dravid’s influence

Suresh Raina and Rahul Dravid

India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) cricketer Suresh Raina has released his autobiographical book titled, “Believe: What Life and Cricket Taught Me” on the 24th of May. It is published by Penguin Random House India and co-authored with cricket journalist and author Bharat Sundaresan. The book is said to contain accounts of all the challenges that Raina faced as a young cricketer and how he overcame all of them thanks to his focus, hard work and discipline.

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It features Raina’s accounts of some of the greats of the game of cricket like MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and so on. Raina shares that he feels that he has reached “a point in his life” where he is ready to share his story and impart lessons to the younger generations.

I felt like I have reached a point in my life where I’m ready to share my story and pass on all the lessons I have learnt from being an Indian cricketer at the highest level. I have come to a stage where I want to chronicle my ups and downs and talk about how I learnt to believe in myself through that journey,” Raina told India Today.

“Rahul Dravid took me under his wing,” Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina and Rahul Dravid
Suresh Raina and Rahul Dravid

Suresh Raina hails Rahul Dravid as his “guru”. The southpaw shares that most of the chances that came his way during his stint with the national team was due to Dravid. Raina adds that Rahul Dravid shaped the way he developed as a person through the years.

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For me, Rahul bhai was like a guru. He took me under his wing early on and a lot of my initial opportunities vis-à-vis the Indian team came as a result of that. He was also very influential in my overall development as a person. He made sure I accompanied him everywhere when we weren’t playing cricket and encouraged me to find my own voice within the dressing room and elsewhere,” Raina adds.

Raina asserts that it was the timing of his injuries that saw his international career go off track. “I don’t think I would have done anything very differently. I think with cricket, as with life, it’s all about timing. My injuries, the serious ones, maybe just happened at the worst time. But it gave me a chance to believe in myself more and I take a lot of pride in how I came back from them to perform at the highest level,” he signs off.

Also read:‘Had two Dukes balls in my bag but I didn’t get the chance to use them against Virat Kohli’: Kyle Jamieson

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