Out Of Indian Team, Out Of Form: Is It The End Of Road For Suresh Raina?

Not very long ago, Suresh Raina was an indispensable part of India’s limited-overs team. Since returning to the team in 2008, Raina churned out consistent performances, becoming one of team’s most reliable batsmen in the ODIs and T20Is.  However, his fall from grace has been as spectacular as his comeback to the Indian team as he is now struggling even to get into the mix of things let alone getting a call from the national team. Things began going downhill for him from the home series against South Africa in 2015.

On the friendly pitches, Raina struggled against the Protea bowlers and was dropped from the team thereafter. In first three matches of the series- he registered a score of three in the first ODI followed by two ducks in the next two games. He scored a fifty in the fourth match but another failure in the final fixture was enough for the selectors to show him the door.

His poor form continued in 2016 too where he could not quite deliver either with bat or ball in the Asia Cup and World T20 that followed, despite being showered with opportunities throughout.

He was recalled for the ODI series against New Zealand in October last year but did not play a single game due to illness. However, he was handed a lifeline when he was recalled for the T20 series against England earlier this year and the southpaw fully capitalised on it by finishing the three-match series as its third highest run-getter with 104 runs.

A good performance in this year’s IPL gave hope that he will be recalled but the hope is now diminishing at a pace faster than the balls travels when the southpaw hits them over mid-wicket. Raina was ignored for the Champions Trophy, the West Indies tour and the recently-concluded series against Sri Lanka and the way things have panned out recently, the 30-year looks set to spend a good period of time out of the team.

Captain Virat Kohli has made it clear that while the team will experiment extensively to get the best combination for the next World Cup, those players will be picked from a pool of 20-25 players and Raina definitely does not feature in that list. Moreover, his performances have also not not helped his cause.  Recently, he managed just 9 for Uttar Pradesh in the Buchi Babu Trophy and will be keen to get back to his best when he leads India Blue in the Duleep Trophy. It will be a big opportunity for him to prove his worth and only an outstanding tournament can put him in the mix of things. However, a failure can be fatal for his career which is already off the track.

India are set to play Australia in a limited-overs series later this month and while the team is yet to be announced for the five-match ODI and three-match T20I series, Raina looks unlikely to find a place. And in case if he continues his dismal run with the bat in the coming days and if it coincides with the rise of Manish Pandey, KL Rahul and others, the doors of the Indian team might be shut on him and he will be left with no option but to retire from international cricket.