Out Of Indian Team But Now Down On Spirits As Suresh Raina Gears Up To Play Moin-Ud Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament

After yet another snub from the national selectors, India’s discarded batsman Suresh Raina is now gearing up to prove his worth with the bat as he is all set to ply his trade for Air India in the All India Coromandel King Moin-Ud Dowlah Gold Cup tournament to be held from August 22 to 31 in Hyderabad.

Barring the T20I series against England earlier this year, Raina has fallen out of the favour with the selectors. The southpaw last played an ODI in October 2015 during the five-match series against South Africa before getting dropped due to his poor performances.

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. His performance in this year’s Indian Premier League was also impressive where he scored 442 runs in 14 matches.

The performance helped him to get in the standby list for the Champions Trophy but he is yet to get a call for the ODI team. He also tried to convince the selectors by regularly posting the photos and videos of his fitness training in Europe but to no avail as he was once again ignored for the ongoing Sri Lanka series. Well, the latest turn of events are surely a big setback for him but the left-handed batsman is not down on spirits and is excited to play in the Moin-Ud Dowlah Trophy.

The 30-year-old took to Twitter to say that he is looking forward to playing the tournament with full spirit.

“#Hyderabad for #Moin-ud-Dowlah Cup. Looking forward with full spirit!” he wrote.

#Hyderabad for #Moin-ud-Dowlah Cup. Looking forward with full spirit! #Excited #Focused… https://t.co/SNPUJben4C

— Suresh Raina?? (@ImRaina) August 21, 2017