Second knee surgery was tough call to make: Suresh Raina

After undergoing knee surgery, Indian batsman Suresh Raina on Sunday released a statement on Twitter, saying the decision to undergo the operation was a tough call to make.

Raina underwent the surgery on Friday and it will require the cricketer four to six weeks to recover.

"I am out of surgery and healing steadily, for which I thank my doctors, family, friends, and everyone who has wished me good health and speedy recovery. The issue began way back. It was 2007 when I underwent my maiden knee surgery and later, I was back on the field, giving the game my 100%, all thanks to my trainers and doctors," he said in the statement.

Raina also revealed that he started to feel discomfort in his knee a couple of years back. The cricketer said the decision to undergo the operation was taken after the pain increased.

"However, a nagging discomfort returned the last couple of years. During the episodes of niggling pain, to avoid any impact on my game, my trainers kept me going and helped me a lot in training my muscles well so that it would take the load off of the knee," he said.

"To be honest, second knee surgery was a tough call to make because I knew it would put me off-action for a few months and I wasn't ready for it until a few weeks ago when the pain had gotten a bit much and I knew there was only one way out of this. I hope I'm up on my feet, on the field and ready to give my best again very soon," he added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had taken to Twitter on Friday to inform cricketing fans about Raina's surgery.

"Mr Suresh Raina underwent a knee surgery where he had been facing discomfort for the last few months. The surgery has been successful and it will require him 4-6 weeks of rehab for recovery. We wish him a speedy recovery," BCCI had tweeted.

The 32-year-old has played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs for India amassing 768 and 5,615 runs respectively. He has also featured in 78 T20Is games for India during which he picked up 1,605 runs.

The left-handed batsman has been out of the Indian lineup for a while, but he continues to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).