MS Dhoni’s shadow still stretches across Indian cricket like a floodlight. Nine years after he handed over the captaincy and six years since he walked away from international cricket, the scorecard of his era still reads like a fantasy checklist.
- T20 World Cup? Ticked.
- Champions Trophy? Ticked.
- No. 1 Test team for the first time? Done.
- A 50-over World Cup after 28 long years? Sealed in 2011.
India haven’t lifted that trophy again since.
From Dhoni’s empire to Kohli’s regime
Dhoni’s reign was more than trophies. It was a ruthless reset. Seniority meant nothing if the performances didn’t match. Icons were nudged out, the next wave pulled in.
Virat Kohli grew from precocious talent into the heartbeat of the batting line-up. Rohit Sharma, shifted to the top, rewrote his own story. Yuvraj Singh, between 2007 and 2011, played with a ferocity that defined an era. Suresh Raina turned No. 7 into a game-breaking slot. Shikhar Dhawan walked into Test cricket and marked his arrival with the highest score by an Indian opener on debut.
When Dhoni finally stepped aside and Kohli took full control, Indian cricket didn’t just change captains. It changed its demands.
The days of “manageable” fitness and form disappeared. Kohli wanted a side that could out-run, out-hit, and outlast everyone with a World Cup on the horizon. The Yo-Yo test became the non-negotiable gatekeeper. Reputation no longer guaranteed a place; numbers and fitness did. Big names slipped away quietly. Raina was one of them.
By the time the 2019 World Cup in England arrived, the team looked different. KL Rahul was the dependable middle-order option. Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya had nailed down their spots as all-rounders. The No. 4 slot kept India guessing, but Ambati Rayudu and then Vijay Shankar appeared to be the preferred choices.
Raina, once central to India’s white-ball plans, watched it all from the outside.
“Players expect respect”
In a recent conversation with Aakash Chopra, Raina opened a window into how his India career ended. He retired at 33, on the same evening MS Dhoni stunned the world with his own farewell announcement on August 15, 2020. Raina had already realised the door to India colours had shut.
“See, every captain has his own team. He obviously feels someone else is better. Yuvraj Singh and I failed the Yo-Yo test, but we cleared it. We played a lot of domestic too. Scored a lot of runs. I did speak to Anil bhai (then the coach), and he told me there were certain things I needed to do. I was named Player of the Tournament in South Africa in T20Is. But in the 2019 World Cup, a different batter was preferred for England. A different keeper went there too. Back then, I felt that I could have done better,” Raina said.
“Players expect respect. The communication could have been better, such as what are the selectors thinking? What message is being given to them by them? But that’s not in our control. I asked plenty of questions, but didn’t get any answers. I spoke to both the captain and the coaches. But they did what they felt was right.”
The frustration is clear. So is the reality.
The slide after 2015
Up to the 2015 World Cup, Raina looked like a permanent fixture. He finished games, counter-attacked short bowling on slower tracks, and fielded like a man with a personal grudge against singles.
Once that World Cup ended, the cracks widened.
His returns dipped sharply. On quicker surfaces against high-quality pace, the short ball became a glaring weakness. Injuries cut into his rhythm and robbed him of continuity. From 2016 onward, his ODI career all but vanished: just three matches in the format. T20Is offered more chances — 32 appearances — but the numbers told a blunt story: 622 runs from 22 innings, average 25, strike-rate 135, two fifties. Useful, not irresistible.
Raina also pointed to his T20I series in South Africa, claiming he was named Player of the Tournament. The record says otherwise. The award went to Bhuvneshwar Kumar for his seven wickets across the series. Raina did walk away with the Player of the Match in the third T20I, thanks to a brisk 43 off 27 balls and figures of 1/27. It was a reminder of what he could still do — but not enough to change the long-term script.
A few months later, in England, he played his final T20Is and ODIs for India. That was it. No farewell game. No lap of honour. Just a quiet full stop.
Domestic grind, limited returns
Raina insists he went back to domestic cricket and piled on runs. The numbers paint a more subdued picture.
In 2017, across the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy, he managed 243 runs in 13 innings at an average of 18.69, with just one half-century. The following year looked brighter. Across the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Deodhar Trophy and Ranji Trophy, he scored 769 runs in 24 innings at 36.62, with one century and seven fifties. The Vijay Hazare Trophy was his standout: 208 runs in six innings at 41.60, including three fifties.
Respectable numbers. For a player fighting to reclaim an India spot in a fiercely competitive era, not quite overwhelming.
The selectors turned to younger, fitter, more versatile options. The team moved on. Raina, for all his pedigree, could not drag his way back into the frame.
A career that promised even more
Strip away the late-career struggles and the story of Suresh Raina remains one of high impact.
He walked into the dressing room during the turbulent Rahul Dravid–Greg Chappell phase and still found a way to anchor himself in the middle order. He became the first Indian batter to score centuries in all three formats. In the 2011 World Cup, his cameos under pressure — especially in the knockouts — helped tilt the tournament India’s way. In the field, he set standards that teammates had to chase. His energy at backward point and in the ring changed games.
Yet, as Dhoni’s time gave way to Kohli’s, and as India’s white-ball structure hardened around fitness metrics and relentless competition, Raina’s arc bent downward quicker than many expected. The promise of a longer, more dominant run never quite materialised.
He walked away on the same day as the captain under whom he flourished the most. Dhoni left with a legacy of trophies and transformation. Raina left with a quieter question hanging over his career.
In an era that demanded constant evolution, did Indian cricket outgrow Suresh Raina, or did he just run out of time to reinvent himself?
