Former India cricketer Suresh Raina has come very close to realizing his long-cherished dream of training cricketers in his ancestral native place, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the J&K Sports Council in presence of the Governor of the UT and former Railway Minister Manoj Sinha, a native of Ghazipur, located in Raina’s home state of Uttar Pradesh.
Announcing the news the 33-year-old tweeted, “Extremely delighted to sign the MoU with J&K Sports Council for training budding cricketers across the Union Territory. In presence of J&K Lt. Governor @manojsinha, Chief Secretary BVR Subramaniam and Principal Secretary to LG @nitishwarKumar. Great beginnings & things ahead.”
Earlier Raina had expressed the desire of helping J&K in various ways after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had written a letter to him on the announcement of his retirement. The former UP captain had shared his vision of playing a major role in developing cricket and cricket infrastructure in his ancestral region of Jammu and Kashmir, seeking govt.’s assistance in it.
Former India all-rounder and a player of Jammu Kashmir at one point of time in his career, Irfan Pathan congratulated Raina on his success and wished him luck in his endeavor.
Raina, who surprised all by announcing his international retirement, just minutes after his teammate and good friend MS Dhoni, represented India in 18 Tests, 226 ODIs, and 78 T20Is scoring a total of 7988 runs. A good enough part-time bowler, Raina also took 62 international wickets.
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