Should Suresh Raina be a Part of the ODI Team?

Team India has been in a superb form especially in the limited-overs leg of the South African tour. After losing the Test series by a 2-1 margin, they bounced back strongly to trounce the hosts 5-1 in the 6 match ODI series. Captain Virat Kohli was at his sublime best and scored 558 runs in 6 matches. It included 3 centuries and a half-century.

The wrist spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal was at their imperious best and ended up scalping 33 wickets between them. They were simply terrific and never allowed the Proteas batsmen to score big. Never before the series had the fans and the pundits predicted such a dominating scoreline in favour of the visitors.

The Return  of Raina

Following their ODI series triumph, the visitors came into the T20i series as overwhelming favourites. However, in a 3 match series, it is pretty hard to predict and one more lackluster performance can cost India the series. India employed a few changes to the shortest format. Among them, the most prominent of them was the return of veteran batsman Suresh Raina.

Before this series, Raina last donned the national colours last year in January 2017. Despite a good half-century I the series, Raina was overlooked from the squad. He kept failing the yo yo test which is now considered a parameter to be part of the Indian squad. To add to his woes, he had put on some considerable amount of weight which didn’t help his cause.

However, he was determined to make a comeback and started working very hard on his fitness. With the sort of fitness the current team has, Raina has understood the fact that there is no place for him in the side without being one of the fittest individuals. He was arguably one of the greatest athletes during his peak but even today he has made a startling transformation from being a fat to a fit individual.

Performance in the ongoing series

The southpaw struck some impressive shots in his comeback match. He struck a sensational six off the bowling of Dane Paterson and added a couple of boundaries before perishing to Junior Dala. He looked in fluent touch. However, he needed to be a bit more patient. He kept going for the wild slogs and ultimately it was a mistimed shot which brought about his downfall.

Even in the 2^nd encounter, the southpaw looked in fluent touch. His innings of 30 contained 5 hits to the fence. He also shared a good partnership with Manish Pandey. However, he couldn’t quite carry and was dismissed on 30.

Potential comeback in ODI’s

He has looked in good touch in the domestic circuit. Even in the first couple of T20I’s, Raina was seen enjoying himself both with the bat and in the field. He took as many as 4 catches in the opening encounter. Even with the bat in hand, he looked in good touch despite failing to convert the starts.

Meanwhile, there is no doubt about the fact that he is one of the most experienced players in the team. Raina has been a brilliant limited overs player for the Men in Blue over the years. Despite the southpaw not being in the scheme of things of late, he will surely be in the reckoning for the 2019 World Cup. Despite India’s dominant run in the ODI format, the middle order has been an issue.

The middle and the lower middle order hasn’t given India the much-needed runs in the end overs. With the inclusion of Raina, there will be a solidity provided in the middle order. Raina has a particularly great record in England which will definitely put him in good stead ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Given the middle order woes and Raina’s form, he should definitely make a comeback in the ODI team.

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