Suresh Raina overtakes Virat Kohli as IPL’s all time highest-scorer

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Gujarat Lions skipper Suresh Raina returned to the IPL and straightaway took back the highest scorer’s mantle from Virat Kohli.

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Suresh Raina is again the leading run-scorer in IPL. (BCCI Photo)

A day after Virat Kohli stormed past the 4000-run mark and overtook Suresh Raina as the highest scorer in all IPL, the Uttar Pradesh batsman reclaimed the mantle that has belonged to him for several years. (Full IPL 2016 coverage)
Gujarat Lions skipper and former Chennai Super Kings southpaw Raina needed 18 to overtake Kohli’s 4002 before the game against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders.

On Wednesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Kohli had become the first man to cross 4,000 runs in the tournament’s nine-year history and record over 800 runs in a single edition of the IPL, during a 50-ball 113 against Kings XI Punjab. (Virat Kohli unreal, superhuman and beyond comparison)

Raina snatched his record back from Kohli in style as he smacked an 87-metre six off Morne Morkel over covers in the sixth over of the match against the Knight Riders. He helped himself to an unbeaten 53 from 36 balls to steer his team to a six-wicket win at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur on Thursday. (Also Read: Kohli on record-shattering fourth hundred: It was unbelievable!)
Raina had missed the last game against RCB to be with his wife Priyanka for the birth of their first child in the Netherlands. That was the first instance in nine seasons that he missed a game in the IPL.
“When I saw my baby – It’s been the best feeling ever. I’ve been playing all these years and it’s the best reason to miss a couple of games,” Raina said after the match.
Raina is on provisional pole at the moment with 4038 runs in 144 matches at an average of 33.93. Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma completes the top-three with 3844 runs from 141 games. Both Raina and Rohit have hit one century each in nine seasons so far while Kohli has four tons to his credit, all of which have come in this season.