Indian cricketer Suresh Raina was present in a stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday. However, as it turned out, it was a badminton stadium not a cricket one. The Indian cricketer came out to cheer for Saina Nehwal during the latter's Premier Badminton League (PBL) match in Lucknow on Tuesday. Saina Nehwal was gearing up to take on world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying in Awadhe Warriors tie against Ahmedabad Smash Masters when Raina turned up at the Babu Banarasi Das Stadium.

Raina was seen watching Saina battle against Tai intently from the dug out of the Awadhe Warriors. Sitting beside Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap, Raina seemed to be having quite a lot of discussion about the happening on the badminton court. Saina, who is making a return after suffering an ankle injury, lost the match 5-15, 14-15 to Tai in the fourth match of the night.

Saina massively struggled in the first game against the deceptive player from Taiwan and without much of a fight, lost the early battle 5-15. However, the golden girl of Indian badminton turned up with all her grit and determination in the second set and the packed Lucknow stadium witnessed the Saina that India is used to watching.

Saina took Tai around the court and used her back court strength to her advantage to put Tai to test. Flat smashes, cross-court duels and that loud power on shots saw Saina take reach the game point 14-12. Just as Raina and the others were waiting to pat Saina on her back for all that effort, Tai turned up in the best fashion and her deceptive strokes to not just level the scoring but win the game 15-14 and take the match.