Suresh Raina To Replace Ambati Rayudu In India Squad For England ODIs

India, on Saturday (June 16), named Suresh Raina as Ambati Rayudu’s replacement for India’s ODI squad for the tour of England. The national selection panel took the decision after Rayudu failed to clear the mandatory yo yo Test.

As per reports,  Rayudu scored a dismal 14 in the test while qualifying mark is 16.1. Rayudu earned the call from the national selectors after his dazzling displays in the just-concluded Indian Premier League. He played an integral role in Chennai Super Kings’ title-winning run in the IPL this year.  Among the top-five run-scorers, this season was the best IPL Rayudu had, scoring 602 runs at a strike rate of 149.75 including one century.

However, his hopes of donning the Indian jersey for the first time since 2016 was dashed because of his poor fitness.

The BCCI confirmed the news through a press release.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Suresh Raina as Ambati Rayudu’s replacement in India’s ODI squad for the series against England,” read the statement from the BCCI. “The announcement came after Rayudu failed to clear his fitness test that was held at NCA, Bengaluru on Friday, June 15, 2018.”

Meanwhile, Raina will be looking to make the most of this opportunity. The southpaw has not played an ODI since October 2015. With India’s middle-order far from being settled at the moment, a good outing in England can pretty much cement Raina’s place in the playing eleven.

The left-handed batsman was in good form in this year’s IPL. The Super Kings star scored 445 runs in 15 games with the help of 4 fifties.

Meanwhile, the 3-match ODI series will get underway on July 12 in Nottingham.

India’s squad for ODIs against England:

Virat Kohli (Captain). Shikhar Dhawan. Rohit Sharma. KL Rahul. Shreyas Iyer. Suresh Raina. MS Dhoni (wicket-keeper). Dinesh Karthik. Yuzvendra Chahal. Kuldeep Yadav. Washington Sundar. Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Jasprit Bumrah. Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.