Suresh Raina picks ex-RR skipper
Suresh Raina surprised many when he named former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson as the most competitive cricketer, overlooking Virat Kohli.
Former India captain Virat Kohli is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, with over 500 international appearances across formats. Known for his competitive spirit, Kohli shared the dressing room with Suresh Raina for Team India in all three formats. However, during a recent appearance on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel, Raina was asked to name the most competitive player he had seen. Instead of Kohli, he chose ex-Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Watson.
“Shane Watson. When he used to play for Australia, then he came to our team. Very, very nice human being, but he was very competitive,” Raina said on the show.
Watson enjoyed a successful international career for Australia between 2002 and 2016, playing 59 Tests, 190 ODIs and 58 T20Is. He scored nearly 11,000 runs and took 291 wickets across formats.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Watson featured in 145 matches for three franchises—Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He scored 3,874 runs and picked up 92 wickets. One of his most memorable innings came in the 2018 IPL final, where he smashed an unbeaten 117 off 57 balls to power MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings to their third title. He followed it up with a valiant 80 off 59 balls in the 2019 final as well.
ALSO READ | “Don’t Think He Will…”: AB de Villiers Makes Shocking Jasprit Bumrah Prediction For Asia Cup 2025
During the same show, Raina was also asked to select his all-time Chennai Super Kings XI. His picks included Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Subramaniam Badrinath, Doug Bollinger, Albie Morkel, Shadab Jakati, Ravichandran Ashwin, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Mohit Sharma. He named Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan as the 12th man.
Interestingly, Watson did not make Raina’s all-time CSK XI, nor did other big names like Faf du Plessis, Deepak Chahar, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Dwayne Bravo. This came as a surprise, given that Bravo is CSK’s second-highest wicket-taker in IPL history and a two-time Purple Cap winner. Meanwhile, Faf and Gaikwad have scored over 2,500 runs each for the franchise.
Dafabet
- Maximum Cricket Cashback 10%
- India Super League Cashback
- Common wallet 100% deposit bonus up to ₹8,000 !
Last Updated on August 31, 2025
