http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Arthur-Percival-Day-c45927 to bat till the end in the 1st qualifier against Bangalore
After playing a pivotal role in his team’s comprehensive six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore last night, Chennai Super Kings’ batsman, Suresh Raina, revealed that he went to the crease with the aim to bat till the last ball of the game and
fortunately the strategy worked for the team at the end of the day.
Raina smashed a fabulous knock of 73 runs and led his team to a convincing win in the high-voltage first qualifier of the ongoing Indian Premier League on Tuesday, May 24, 2011.
Having been asked to bat first, the Challengers piled up a decent score of 175 with help of responsible batting by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737.
Later in the match, the Super Kings overcame the target comfortably with a couple of balls to spare, courtesy of an unbeaten 46-run partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JA-Morkel-c1613 and Raina.
Raina, who won the ‘Player of the Match’ award, stated that he, as the senior player of the team, wanted to stay at the wicket till the end and his positive approach eventually helped him in this regard.
"I knew it was important to stay till the end. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Z-Khan-c98379 was bowling well, but I had to play my shots. I stayed positive. It was important to believe in myself and play my natural shots. I wanted to finish the game for the team," said Raina who struck
four boundaries and six sixes in his thrilling innings.
The classy Indian left-hander further described that his crucial partnership with S Badrinath and the skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820, assisted him in keeping his confidence high.
"There were very important partnerships with Badrinath who played a fine innings and Dhoni who played his shots before Morkel finished the game for us," added the recently appointed Indian vice-captain.
When asked about his brilliant batting under pressure, Raina termed ‘playing with the straight bat’ as key to his success against world-class Bangalore bowling attack. Meanwhile, Raina aimed to continue his good run in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Griffith-c919 final, scheduled on Saturday,
May 28, 2010.
Considering next match as do-or-die situation, Raina urged his teammates to deliver their one hundred percent in the upcoming epic encounter.
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