Virat Kohli And Suresh Raina Share A Hug During India’s Thriller Against England - WATCH

Former Indian all-rounder Suresh Raina reunited with Virat Kohli during India’s World Cup game against England. India were facing a struggling English side in the sixth game of the ongoing tournament. After the host side had finished batting, a few Indian fielders and bowlers entered the ground to do their warm-ups to get ready for the second innings during the break. That was when Raina bumped into Kohli and the duo hugged each other warmly. Both Kohli and Raina shared the dressing room during India’s triumphant campaign in the 2011 ODI World Cup. While Kohli remained in the squad for the latest edition of the tournament, Raina was part of the broadcast team in Lucknow.

India lost the toss against England at the Ekana Sports Stadium in Lucknow and found themselves to be batting first. English bowler Chris Woakes picked up the first wicket of the game early as he bowled out Shubman Gill for 9 runs in 13 balls. Former skipper Virat Kohli stepped up next but was dismissed for a duck. Until his innings against the defending champions, Kohli had been in stellar form at the ongoing World Cup. He played several match-winning knocks to deliver a win for his side on multiple occasions. Heading into the game, Virat had smashed 354 runs in his last five matches. This time he endured a nine-ball duck, failing to add to India’s tally. As the game progressed, India kept losing wickets in brief intervals finding themselves at an underwhelming scoreline of 229 runs while losing nine wickets at the end of the innings. It was Rohit Sharma who had the best performance with his 87-run knock.

In the second innings, India displayed a brilliant bowling performance which started with Jasprit Bumrah bowling out Dawid Malan in the fifth over. In his second successive ball, Bumrah sent star batter Joe Root packing at a golden duck. Former England skipper Ben Stokes also didn’t have much of a say as he was also dismissed for a duck after facing 10 balls from Mohammed Shami. The Indian pacer went on to scalp three more players including the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. Bumrah and Shami’s bowling spoils helped India secure a statement win over the 2019 champions by 100 runs.

Suresh Raina, on the other hand, played his last ODI game for India against England back in 2018 in Leeds. The star all-rounder couldn’t make much impact in that match, scoring only a single run in four balls and remaining wicketless in his two-over spell. India went on to lose that game by eight wickets thanks to a Joe Root century in the second innings.