Ind vs Ire: Suresh Raina welcomes Deepak Hooda to elite club as Indian batter slams maiden ton in 2nd T20I

Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina was all praise for Deepak Hooda as the versatile batter etched his name in the history books when Team India squared off against Ireland in the second T20I of the bilateral series on Tuesday. Premier batter Hooda was a star turnout for India in the recently concluded T20I series hosted by Ireland. Earlier, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) all-rounder had played a match-winning knock to help India take a 1-0 lead in the series opener.

Roped in as the new No.3 batter in the series decider against Ireland, an on-song Hooda demolished the Irish bowling attack at The Village to make sure Hardik Pandya & Co. set a daunting total for the hosts. Hooda slammed his maiden century in international cricket and propelled India to a mammoth total. Interestingly, Hooda became the fourth Indian batter to score a century in the shortest format for the 2007 world champions.

Welcoming Hooda to the elite club of centurions, former all-rounder Raina shared a special message for him. “Welcome to the club @deepakhooda30 well played,” Raina commented on a video shared by the Indian Cricket Team on Instagram. Only India skipper Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Raina and premier batter Hooda have scored centuries for India in T20 cricket.

Talking about the match, Hooda smashed 104 off 57 balls while Sanju Samson fired 77 off 42 balls in the high-scoring contest. The batting duo of Samson and Hooda also recorded India's highest partnership in the history of the T20 cricket. Samson and Hooda's 176-run stand paved the way for India to post the match-winning total of 225-7 in the 20-over contest. Star batter Hooda was named the Player of the Match for his record-fest outing. The Indian all-rounder also secured the Player of the Series award after India upstaged Ireland by 4 runs in Dublin on Sunday.