Records do not always ensure that a great innings is remembered in cricket. A few of them are remembered due to the possibility of what might have occurred. One of these moments was experienced during the IPL 2014 knockout game when Suresh Raina scored a fantastic knock that cannot be complete.
With a massive target, the pressure was early on the side of Chennai Super Kings. But when Raina reached the crease all that began to change. He did not only score runs but he transformed the tempo of the game. Boundaries were ever coming, bowlers had nothing to say to them, and the big target was no longer so big.
Raina was batting in complete control. It seemed like he could make points every time he wished. He had already scored 87 runs in only 25 balls and had played one of the most explosive innings in the history of the IPL. It seemed at that time that he was almost assured of a hundred and making history.
But cricket may transform in a few seconds.
An incidental misinterpretation in making a run resulted in his run-out, and with this the whole impulse of the game was changed. It was not merely the dropping of a wicket, but it was like the death of something precious. Once Raina came out, the pursuit gradually lost its grip and CSK lost the game eventually.
Raina did not set any record that day, yet his innings remains one of the most potent and thrilling hits in the history of IPL. Most of the fans still feel that had he been there to play a couple more balls, he would have been able to record the fastest century in the tournament.
Cricket is sometimes not what occurs, but what almost occurred. And that is the reason why this innings is still memorable.