[8] He was the captain of Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and he also served as vice-captain of the Chennai Super Kings.

Raina made history being the first Indian to score a century in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, which he did with his 101 runs against South Africa at the 2010 Tournament.

Raina completed his bachelor's degree in Commerce and also holds an honorary doctorate from Vels University, Chennai.

[19] Raina rose to become the captain of the Uttar Pradesh U-16s and came to prominence amongst Indian selectors in 2002 when he was selected at the age of 15+1⁄2 years for the U-19 tour to England, where he made a pair of half-centuries in the U-19 Test matches.

He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Uttar Pradesh against Assam in February 2003 at the age of 16 but did not play another match until the following season.

[23] In 2018 Akshdeep Nath replaced him as UP's Ranji trophy captain due to poor performance of scoring 105 runs in 9 innings averaging 11.66.

He was then awarded a Border–Gavaskar scholarship to train at the Australian Cricket Academy and in early 2005, he made his first-class limited overs debut, and scored 645 runs that season at an average of 53.75.

[26] He played a vital half-century which turned the final to Chennai's tide who ultimately went on to become the champions beating the Mumbai Indians.

[37] In 2021, Raina became the fourth player in IPL history to play 200 matches, behind MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik.

[40] In September 2022 he signed a contract with the Road Safety World Series league and played for 'Indian Legends' team.

[44] During the semi-final of 2011 Cricket World Cup, Raina batted with tailenders to score an unbeaten 36, a significant contribution to India's final tally of 260.

[45] Apart from a half-century in the first Test of India tour of England 2011 at Lord's, Raina managed just 27 runs from seven innings.

[48] After the Tour of Sri Lanka, when the England team came to India, he was dropped and his spot was given to Yuvraj Singh, who made a comeback after suffering from cancer.

In 2011, India toured West Indies after the World Cup with captain MS Dhoni rested and vice-captain Virender Sehwag injured.

[56] Raina returned to the Indian T20 international side in February 2018 on the back of his recent performance in domestic cricket particularly Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The series went well for him as he became the talk of the town as he smashed 43 runs off 27 balls to help India post a competitive total on board in the final T20I.

He is particularly strong on the leg side, where he employs a wide array of shots, including the flick, pull, and slog sweep.

[63] In addition to his batting skills, Raina is an exceptional fielder, renowned for his agility, sharp reflexes, and throwing accuracy.

His family left 'Rainawari' in Jammu and Kashmir union territory of India amid the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in the 1990s and settled down in Muradnagar town, Ghaziabad district, Uttar Pradesh.