Suresh Raina recalls when he became first Indian, third in world to score a T20I century

"One of the most memorable moments for me," Suresh Raina said on his feat from May 2, 2010, when he had become the first Indian to score a T20I century. From India, only Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have scored T20I tons since then.

Suresh Raina scored a 60-ball 101 in a T20 World Cup match in 2010. (Twitter/imRaina)

Recalling his achievement on this day in 2010, Suresh Raina said scoring the first-ever T20I century for India was “one of the most memorable moments” in his career.

On May 2, 2010, Raina had cracked a breezy 60-ball 101 against South Africa in a World Cup match. Raina’s blistering knock, which helped India pile up an intimidating 186 for five, had nine fours and five sixes. India had won the match by 14 runs.

#OnThisDay in 2010, @ImRaina smashed a 60-ball 101 in the 2010 Men’s #T20WorldCup to become the first 🇮🇳 batsman to score a century in the shortest format.

WATCH his 🔥 innings against 🇿🇦, which consisted of 9️⃣ fours and 5️⃣ sixes 👀 pic.twitter.com/DqjZY3ocBH

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) May 2, 2020

This had then been the first T20I ton by an Indian and the third overall. Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum had been the two others who had scored centuries before Raina.

Taking to Twitter 10 years after the feat, Raina wrote: “One of the most memorable moments for me. Scoring a first ever T20i century for my country undoubtedly filled me with a lot of confidence, energy a never ending zest of giving my 100% to my game every time I’m on the field.”

One of the most memorable moments for me. Scoring a first ever T20i century for my country undoubtedly filled me with a lot of confidence, energy & a never ending zest of giving my 100% to my game every time I’m on the field. pic.twitter.com/1b7MdthbIP

— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) May 2, 2020

Speaking after the match, Raina had said in 2010, “If you play 40 to 50 balls and you can score 80 to 85 runs. I had batted well in the IPL and knew that number three is a crucial position and if you bat well, sure you can get a hundred.”

Hundreds in the T20 format are rare for batsmen, with only two Indians having replicated Raina’s feat in international T20s since then. Rohit Sharma has four centuries in T20Is and KL Rahul has two.

Incidentally, Raina had also scored his first 100 in the IPL on May 2 in 2013.

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