5 Indian stars who might not play in the 2019 World Cup

#3 Suresh Raina

Once a regular, Raina is now struggling to get in

A couple of years ago, when Dhoni expressed his desire to bat higher up the order and the mantle of finishing was supposed to be passed on to someone else, Suresh Raina was the most likely candidate to take on that role.

Raina had done it successfully for many years, as he would come in down the order and start hitting the ball from the word go. In T20s, his record has been terrific as well, where he has preferred batting at no. 3.

But Raina could not grab the opportunities he got and from the end of 2015, began struggling for form and fitness. His vulnerabilities against the short ball led to his downfall on many occasions.

Raina has been out of the reckoning for some time now and the fact that he has not been handed a central BCCI contract and not even picked for the ongoing tour of the West Indies does not augur well for him.

It does look like it is curtains for his ODI career and it would almost be impossible for him to make a comeback for 2019.