Suresh Raina - Is Dhoni's favourite boy fit for Tests?

Suresh Raina. The moment you hear the name, the first thing that thumps your brain is ‘Fielding’. He is most likely one of the best fielders Indian cricket has ever produced since Solkar, Azhar, Robin Singh, Kaif and Yuvraj. When it comes to the longer version of the game, Suresh Raina is just a liability in terms of batting. His way of batting and his shot selection is purely adopted from the shorter format of the game. There is no second thought about Raina’s impact in T20′s. He is indeed the supreme T20 player in the world. He has scored bucket full of runs in every edition of the IPL, albiet for Test cricket, he is just not ready.

Apart from the T20 and ODI, there is a big remark on the inclusion of Raina in the Indian Test eleven. It is true that every cricketer’s reverie is to succeed in the longer version of the game, but it takes sound technique, ample patience and strong mind to be able to do so. The major glitch committed by MS Dhoni was by naming Suresh Raina ahead of Ajinkya Rahane and Subramaniam Badrinath during the second test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. It is time to realize that some players are not made for this format while some players are simply meant to play test cricket. For obvious reasons, the likes of Michael Bevan and Justin Langer stuck to certain versions of the game and mastered it. Rahane averages around 63.94 in first class cricket, which currently places him 7th on the list of all-time highest first class batting averages, even above the great Sachin Tendulkar. Rahane had scored 1089 Runs in 2008/09 for mumbai, which is placed him 4th on the list of all-time most number of runs in a season. It was indeed a superb performance.

On the other side, Subramaniam Badrinth has a first class average of 60.74, which currently places him 10th on the list of all-time highest first class batting averages. He looks solid in his defense and has been a prolific scorer for Tamil Nadu in Ranji. Compared to the Rahane’s, the Kohli’s, the Raina’s, Badrinath is quite an old face of Indian cricket. His exceptional performances in domestic circuit and for the India A was sidelined because of the Fab four. Badrinath has been that unsung hero of Indian cricket, like the Amol Muzumdar’s and the Ambti Rayudu’s.

Even though Suresh Raina managed to get a 55 in the first innings in Bengaluru, he is not worthy to wear the white jersey for India as of now. It’s time that we move on to Badrinath or Rahane for the England and Australia series at home. As India will be challenging the World Number 1 at their backyard in 2013, we must make sure that the middle order in not vulnerable to short deliveries.

It’s interesting to see certain Indian captains backing their favourite players. The pair goes like this,

Sachin Tendulkar - Vinod Kambli

Saurav Ganguly – Javagal Srinath

Rahul Dravid – Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble – Virender Sehwag

Mahendra Singh Dhoni- Suresh Raina