Before Suresh Raina landed in Pakistan, two of the knocks he played during the dream season of 2005 were close to his heart. The 94 in Deodhar Trophy and the 81 against England were the two gems he always spoke about. As Raina used to get nostalgic about these two innings from three years back, he was seen as someone living in the past.

The Asia Cup has changed it all. After his unbeaten 116 against Bangladesh today, chances are that there might be a change on the list of his favourite innings. And with 2008 appearing on his ‘memorable knocks’ chart, Raina is no longer living in the past but is India’s man of the moment.

With the scoreboard reading 56/2 and Virender Sehwag rested for the game, the situation was not ideal for a team chasing 284. But in walked a batsman who started the tournament with a century and narrowly missed another. Raina wasn’t intimidated by the scoreboard and certainly not by the bowling attack. And it was this mindset that helped India make Mt 284 seem like a molehill as they recorded a seven-wicket win and maintain an all-win record in the tournament.

If the other day it was Virender Sehwag with whom Raina marshalled India’s chase, on Saturday it was Sehwag’s Delhi team mate Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir scored an 84-ball 90 before returning to the pavilion. Raina and Yuvraj saw India home with 6.4 overs to go.

Earlier, it took Bangladesh old hand Alok Kapali six years, 60 matches and a lifeless wicket to score his first one-day international century — a knock of 115 that guided Bangladesh to 283/6. But his big moment came against a depleted India attack, sans medium pacer Praveen Kumar and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.

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