Believe: What Life and Cricket Taught Me
is an autobiography by Suresh Raina, co-written with cricket journalist Bharat Sundaresan. The book captures both delightful and disturbing moments from Raina's eventful life.
The book takes us through the challenges Raina faced as a young cricketer. He was bullied in school and at cricket camps, but he always punched above his weight, overcoming every adversity life threw at him and never giving up. The book is peppered with invaluable insights about the game and life that Raina acquired from senior colleagues like M.S. Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly.
Raina's journey from a small town of Muradnagar in UP to the heights of winning the World Cup for India is captured beautifully in his own swashbuckling style. The book is filled with numerous engaging anecdotes from every phase of Raina's life. It is a journey through the highs and lows in the cricketing career of a man who saw his world fall apart and yet became one of the most influential white-ball cricketers India has ever seen.
The title of the book, Believe
, comes from a piece of advice given to Raina by Sachin Tendulkar: Believe in yourself. You can do it.
. This word had such a profound impact on him that he got it etched on his arm as a tattoo.