Suresh Raina Reveals Mum's Role in Fixing Important Innings of His Life
Suresh Raina's mother had taken the lead in finalising her son's wedding plans with childhood friend Priyanka Chaudhary. Plans were fixed when Raina was away in Australia.
Indian cricketer Suresh Raina, who is set to tie the knot with his childhood friend Priyanka Chaudhary today, revealed the match was fixed by his mother. (Also read: PM Modi wishes Suresh Raina)
Raina, who has played 218 ODIs, will get married on Friday night at the Leela Palace in New Delhi. Several teammates from Team India, Chennai Super Kings and the Uttar Pradesh Ranji team are expected.
"The best thing is that the match has been decided by my mom," Raina told The Times of India.
Raina has known Priyanka for several years now but given his hectic schedule, the two have not been in touch for a while. The bride-to-be works in the Netherlands. But the close family ties helped cement the relationship.
Priyanka's father was Raina's sports teacher in Ghaziabad and the two families were always close. The stylish middle-order batsman chose to call it an "arranged marriage". (Also read: Anushka joins Virat in Delhi for Raina's wedding)
"I have known Priyanka for long, but in the middle, I didn't have time to be in touch with her. I remember meeting her at the airport for five minutes in 2008. She was flying back to Holland (where she currently works) and I was going to Bangalore for an IPL game, and we met at the Delhi airport for just five minutes. Usse pehle main usse bachpan mein mila tha (before that we met during our childhood).
Since the two families knew each other well, Raina's mother took the lead to finalise the wedding plans even as her son was busy negotiating different bowling attacks in Australia.
India had been stationed Down Under for the past four months for a four-Test series, a tri-series and later the World Cup. The 28-year-old made 284 runs from eight matches, including two fifties and a hundred (against Zimbabwe).
"I was in Australia for the last five months. Mamma ne sab fix kiya hai (my mother made all the decisions)," Raina said.
"I didn't know. Mom called me in Australia and told me that my marriage has been fixed with one of my childhood friends. Maine kaha kaun hai (I asked her about this girl).
"Then I spoke to Priyanka on the phone. Before the World Cup, I had told some of my team-mates about my wedding after my mom told me that everything had been finalised."