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In a recent conversation with the former India National Cricket Team opener Aakash Chopra, Suresh Raina recalled his last few days with the Indian cricket team, when he used to seek a clear answer from the coaches and the captain about why he was left behind by the national side.
When Suresh Raina announced his retirement, Anil Kumble was the head coach of the Indian cricket team, and Virat Kohli was the captain. So, according to Raina, a former India middle-order batter, he might have asked why he was dropped from the team. As there was no clear answer, he decided to walk away from international cricket.
Suresh Raina says how he went out of Team India selection
Suresh Raina used to be one of the key figures in the Indian batting line-up when MS Dhoni was the captain. Later, when Virat came in charge of the team, things started to flow in the opposite direction for Raina. He stated that he and Yuvraj Singh failed to prove his fitness once but then regained it, proving themselves again in domestic cricket with the hope of making a comeback. But the selectors' call never reached their phones again.
"No, every captain has his own team, right... as you can see. When someone else became captain, he felt this player is better, that player is better. Because, as you can see, everything kept changing after that. People like us, when Yuvi pa [Yuvraj Singh] and I were there, we failed the Yo-Yo test too. After that, we cleared it as well, played a lot of domestic cricket, scored a lot of runs too," Raina told former India batter Aakash Chopra during a conversation.
"I asked questions; I didn't get answers. So I asked questions, talked to people... captain and coaches."
Former captain Virat Kohli had a role behind Suresh Raina's retirement
Raina expected to be a part of the 2019 World Cup in England, but he was not in the plans of the selectors and the Indian team management. Suresh Raina, with his experience,s understood that every captain has their own choices. So maybe he was not a fit in Virat Kohli's plans.
"Then came the 2019 World Cup in England, where preference was given to a different batter. A different wicketkeeper went there. But every captain has a different role; all those things were different. At that time, I felt I could have done better; maybe Yuvi pa could have done better... because someone experienced was needed there since both of us had played together for so long. But alright, there's no point talking about all that now," he added.
Suresh Raina helped India to win 2011 World Cup
Before announcing retirement from international cricket, at the age of only 33, Suresh Raina scored 5615 runs in the One Day Internationals, 1605 runs in T20 Internationals, and 768 runs in Tests.
During his career, he played a key role in the middle order as India lifted the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2011 at home under MS Dhoni's leadership.
