Raina recalls fan's prized match ball souvenir from IPL 2008 and Tendulkar's light-hearted prank

New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) Former India batter Suresh Raina shared an unusual fan encounter linked to one of the biggest sixes hit by him during the inaugural IPL season in 2008. Raina, a member of the Indian team winning 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy, had finished his playing career as a four-time IPL winner with the Chennai Super Kings.

“In 2008, when the IPL started, I remember the Wankhede Stadium wasn’t like it is now, it was still the old stadium. We had a qualifier match against Punjab, and I hit a six off James Hopes that went outside the stadium.”

“A few years later, about three or four years on, I went to get my hair cut. A girl approached me with a ball for me to sign. I didn’t realise it was ‘that’ ball. She asked, ‘Sir, do you know which ball this is?’ I replied, ‘It must be some normal cricket ball.’ She said, ‘Sir, you hit a six outside the Wankhede Stadium, it’s that ball’.”

“She told me she was outside the stadium when it happened, saw the ball come out, and kept it. I never imagined such fandom, and honestly, James Hopes should have been the one asking me for that ball’s signature!” said Raina in an episode of ‘Cheeky Singles’ show on JioHotstar.

He then went on to share a light-hearted in-flight prank played on him by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar during his early days with the Indian team. “We were once going to play a Test match when I was about 18 years old, and I was sitting in business class next to Sachin paaji. The air hostess came over and said, ‘Good morning, Sachin sir. How are you?’ and assuming I was Arjun Tendulkar, she said something to him about me in passing.”

“Sachin paaji saw a chance to have some fun. He replied, ‘Yes, he’s not studying at all, what to do? I’ve even told Anjali (Tendulkar).’ Later, we went to the section where the other players were sitting, and I blurted, ‘Why are you making me sit in business class? You’ve made me Arjun Tendulkar!’ (Sachin) paaji eventually clarified it for the air hostess saying, ‘He’s a part of the Indian cricket team, he’s Suresh Raina, not my son.’ Paaji loved playing such big pranks sometimes.”

Former India captain and legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble recounted moments of being mistaken for several cricketing greats. Many things have happened to me too. People have called me Javagal Srinath, that’s fine. Some said Ravi Shastri, that’s also fine. Kapil Dev, fine as well. Some even thought I was Azharuddin — that’s okay. But in the US, people came up to me and said, 'You are Sunil Gavaskar.’ That one was a bit much.”

He also shared a humorous incident with a person in a party who tried to offer him bowling tips. “There was a party somewhere while I was active in international cricket as a player. A man walked up to me with a glass in his hand, clearly in high spirits and said, ‘You should bowl leg spin like this’.”

“I asked him, ‘What are you doing tomorrow morning?’ His enthusiasm dropped immediately. He asked, ‘Why?’ I replied, ‘Our practice is at 9:30. Come in your whites and please show me how to improve my leg-spin bowling.’ And just like that, he disappeared.”

--IANS

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