5 reasons why Suresh Raina deserves another chance in the ODI team

Suresh Raina has been excluded from the Indian squad for the forthcoming Asia Cup to be held in UAE. This has led to many people wondering whether this is the end of the road for him as far as a spot in the 2019 World Cup squad is concerned.

However, here is why he deserves another chance to stake his claim to play in the mega tournament.

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#5 He has been dropped after just one bad match

Raina only batted in the 2nd and 3rd ODI games of the England series. In the series decider, he played a poor shot and was out for just 1 run. However, in the 2nd ODI, although not looking at his absolute best, he was India’s top run-scorer with 46 runs.

He was in decent enough form in the preceding T20 internationals against Ireland and England as well. Being dropped after a bad performance in just one match seems harsh for a player of his caliber and experience.

#4 He is a left-handed batsman

Suresh Raina came in as a replacement for Ambati Rayudu in the ODI squad for the England tour. The team management cited him being the only left-hander in the Indian middle order as one of the main reasons for his inclusion in the playing XI ahead of Dinesh Karthik and Shreyas Iyer, who were a part of the original squad announced.

Unless the likes of Rishabh Pant and Krunal Pandya, both of whom are inexperienced at the international level, get a chance to play in the near future, Indian team lacks the versatility of the presence of a left-hander in their middle order. And that is where Suresh Raina fits the bill perfectly given his experience and a good record in the limited-overs format.

#3 He will give the playing XI a balanced look

Now that Kedar Jadhav has recovered from his injury and almost certain to take his place as the 6th bowler in the playing XI, the inclusion of Suresh Raina will provide India the option of a 7th bowler in today’s era of flat decks.

With Hardik Pandya still coming to terms with the role of a 5th bowler and Jadhav being a part-timer himself, this provides India an extra cushion in case one of the bowlers have an off-day.

Moreover, this ensures that 2 of the top 6 in the playing XI can roll their arm over if needed and lends a greater balance to the squad. With Jadhav not a part of the squad, Raina not bowling much and the pacers going for plenty, this was one of the things India missed in the England ODI series and it proved to be one of the main reasons why they lost the series.

With the World Cup in England which has a tendency of producing batting beauties, India have to make sure they have their bowling options covered.

#2 His inclusion will allow MS Dhoni to play with more freedom

For a long time, it has been suggested that MS Dhoni is better off playing up the order given his finishing powers are on the wane.

Dhoni generally comes to bat in the lower-middle order, and with both Jadhav and Pandya yet to play a World Cup, their lack of experience will mean a lot of pressure on Dhoni which may prove to be fatal in the final phases of the innings for India especially if he is not able to be at his destructive best.

The inclusion of Suresh Raina will allow Dhoni to move up the order to number 4 and build the innings instead of having to go for attacking shots from the beginning and with Raina bringing some much-needed experience in the lower-middle order, Dhoni can play with a greater sense of freedom which will be highly beneficial for the Indian team.

The fact that India has failed to find a stable number 4 post the 2015 WC, the time may finally be right for Dhoni to make the spot his own.

Additionally, if the team still feels Dhoni is better suited to the lower-middle order role, Raina can himself move to number 4 in the batting order where he has found some success before (Remember his counter-attacking innings of 74 against Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup?).

With the likes of Imran Tahir, Shakib Al Hasan, Ashton Agar, Shadab Khan, Michell Santner, Adil Rashid, Rashid Khan and Devendra Bishoo likely to play in the World Cup and all of them being either wrist spinners or left-arm spinners, a left-hander in Raina batting at number 4 can counter-attack them, maintaining the team’s run-rate in the middle phases of the innings.

#1 He has a proven record in crunch games as well as in England

Suresh Raina spent the majority of 2011 World Cup warming the benches. When he was finally given a chance to play, he responded with match-winning knocks against Australia in the quarter-final and against Pakistan in the semi-final.

In the 2015 World Cup, he played a crucial innings against Pakistan and more importantly, when India were just beginning to stare down at the possibility of a shock defeat against Zimbabwe, Raina stood up to the task and scored a match-winning century.

Even at the franchise level, Raina has won endless games for CSK with his cool demeanor. His experience can come in handy if, at any point, India start staring down the barrel in a big tournament like a World Cup.

Raina has also got a good record in English conditions. In the 2011 tour, he was one of the team’s standout batsmen in the ODI series.

When the team was low on morale following their drubbing in the 2014 Test series in England, Raina lifted the morale of the entire team with his charismatic presence on the field and scoring a match-winning century in the first ODI of the series.

Sourav Ganguly described his innings as “Probably one of the best ODI centuries by an Indian batsman in overseas conditions”.

He deservingly walked away with the Man of the Series Award in that series.

The major struggle for Raina has been on bouncy pitches and with most of the English pitches unlikely to support steep bounce, he can prove to be one of the most crucial players for the team in the 2019 World Cup if he is given a license to go out there and just express himself, without any pressure.