Suresh Raina missed his first match for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday after featuring in 158 matches (including IPL and CPL). Raina joined the yellow brigade in 2008 and has played all the matches in every season until Sunday’s encounter against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). This was after he sustained a calf muscle injury against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Chepauk last week. However, Raina expressed hope that he will recover in time to feature in CSK’s next encounter on April 20th. Suresh Raina leads the charts of players with most consecutive Twenty20 games for a team with 158 matches. Virat Kohli follows him next with 144 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. MS Dhoni has played 124 for CSK.

Reflecting on his injury, Raina spoke from the dugout during the match between KXIP and CSK and said, “There is still some soreness in my calf. Sometimes injuries happen. I missed one match for Gujarat Lions during the birth of my daughter. But I will work hard to get fit for the game on April 20.”

Ruing the loss of Raina in CSK’s playing 11, coach Stephen Fleming had said that it was impossible to replace a player of Raina’s stature. “We can’t replace him (Raina), he’s one of the best performing players in the IPL and the highest run-scorer in the history (of the league). So we can’t replace him, we just got to find a way to minimise his loss,” Fleming said.

“We’ve got good players in our set-up – Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay who’s played here last year. So there’s guys here with points to prove, with international experience, and if they get the chance they’ll do their best what Suresh Raina can do. (This is) an opportunity for someone else but you’d like to get someone like Suresh Raina back into your side as quick as possible,” cricbuzz quoted him saying.

 4002 Runs for Virat Kohli in his IPL career. In his innings of 113 against Kings XI Punjab, he became the first batsman to complete 4000 runs in the IPL, going past Suresh Raina's tally of 3985. Before the start of the season, Kohli was fourth on the list.

4 Centuries for Kohli in this IPL - most by a player in a single T20 tournament. Michael Klinger had scored three centuries in the Natwest Blast T20 in 2015. Only one batsman has scored more centuries than Kohli in all IPLs - five by Chris Gayle. Incidentally, Kohli had not scored any centuries in his first 180 T20 innings before making four centuries in nine innings.

14.06 Royal Challengers' run rate in this match - 211 runs from 15 overs - the highest for a team's innings of six or more overs in IPL. Their run rate when they scored 263, the highest total in T20s, against Pune Warriors was 13.15. On Thursday, they did not score more than six runs in any of the first three overs. But they scored at least 10 runs in each of the last 12 overs of the innings; 18 or more runs in eight of those.

11 Scores of 75 or more for Kohli in T20s this year - most by a batsman in a calendar year. Gayle had 10 such scores in two years - 2011 and 2015. Kohli has converted 11 of his 16 50-plus scores into scores of 75 or more this year in just 25 innings.
2042 Runs scored by Kohli in T20s at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. He became the first batsman to aggregate 2000 or more runs at a single venue in T20s.

47 Balls in which Kohli got to his hundred, which is his fastest among his four centuries. His first century came off 63 balls against Gujarat Lions, second in 56 balls against Rising Pune Supergiants and third in 53 balls against Lions.

13.36 Run rate of the 147-run opening stand between Gayle and Kohli - second-highest in a century stand for first wicket in IPL. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith had scored 109 runs at 14.86 for Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2015. Gayle and Kohli also completed 2500 runs as a pair in T20s. They also have the most century stands - eight.

4 Opening partnerships of 50 or more runs for Royal Challengers in their last six matches, including this match. In their first seven matches, they did not have even one such stand.

226 Kohli's strike rate in this innings of 113 off 50 balls, his highest in a T20 innings of 20 or more balls. This is the first time he has had a strike rate of more than 200 in a T20 innings batting 20 or more balls.

Popular Indian cricketer Suresh Raina, who is playing for Chennai Super Kings in latest season of IPL, has denied his love affair with South Indian actress Shruti Hassan. His clarification is coming following the rumours that he is dating the actress. It was reported that Shruti often spotted cheering for CSK and Suresh considered her as a lucky mascot. There was said to be a mature relationship developing between the two.

Suresh Raina Denies His Love Affair With Shruti Hassan

Suresh Raina, who was shocked to read reports about his relationship, took to his Twitter page to clear the rumours. The left-handed batsman and off-spin bowler tweeted, "Too many media reports which no one even tries to confirm. This is to clear once & for all. I'm not dating ANYONE (sic)." However, this is not the first time, he has been linked with someone. He was rumoured to be dating Poorna Patel, Anushka Sharma and Rakhi Sawant in the past.

Meanwhile, Shruti Hassan has not made any comment on her secret relationship with Suresh Raina. The actress was also linked with actors like Dhanush, Siddharth, Girish Kumar, Rithvik Dhanjani and few others in the past, but none of them has come out true. People in Film Nagar feel that love affair with Suresh Raina must be mere rumour and there is no truth in the reports. Continue to see read more Suresh Raina and Shruti Hassan's Love Affairs.

A day after India vs Pakistan ICC World Twenty20 championship match ended, West Indies captain Darren Sammy took umbrage at the fact that a big-talking Suresh Raina, fresh off a smashing innings against arch rival neighbours, dubbed Windies batsmen as "six hitters".

Sammy then threw an open challenge and dared the Indian bowlers to stop them from hitting the maximums when they clash in the ICC World Twenty20 here tomorrow.

"We don't care much about what Suresh Raina thinks. If he thinks we are only six hitters, then stop us from hitting sixes," Sammy replied when asked about his batsmen inability to rotate strike against spinners.
However, the usually affable West Indies skipper went back to his normal good natured mood as he answered questions with a bit of fun and some with a lot of seriousness.
What's there on Chris Gayle's mind, asked a scribe. "I am not Jesus Christ! I don't know what's going on in his mind," he laughed and replied.
Also read: ICC World Twenty20: Virat Kohli helps India maintain World Cup record against Pakistan
Then he got serious. "But I know he (Gayle) is really pumped up to play here. Whenever he is playing for the West Indies, he is very pumped up. And tomorrow's game everyone will be pumped up."

Will India be easy opponents, was what he was asked first up at the media conference.

"You seriously ask that question? No, I don't think any team is an easy opponent. India started off on a winning note and most likely they will have a lot of confidence going into the game. We know what we are capable of doing and we have been playing some good T20 cricket and the guys are confident that we would come good once we play to our full potential."