24 October 2015, Mumbai: Quinton de Kock and Faf
Duplessis had flattened Team India before Abraham DeVilliers demolished
them as South Africa buried India under a mountain of runs and won their
first ever bilateral ODI series in India. That 214 runs margin of
defeat was India's largest on home soil and more or less made sure M S
Dhoni was on his way out as Captain of ODI team too.
More
than MSD, that match in particular and the series in general also put a
huge question mark before the future of another player. Suresh Kumar
Raina, just 29 at that time had a miserable series due to his well
advertised shortcoming against the short ball. In that match, he bowled 3
overs for 19 runs and took the wicket of de Kock. On a day when South
African batters battered regular spinners Harbhajan, Amit Mishra and
Axar Patel for 213 runs from 28 overs for just 1 wicket, Raina was the
most economical bowler for India. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the only
century maker for India, conceding 106 from his 10 overs.
But
it was the batting that cost him his place in the side. Raina made 12
of 13 balls with a six and a four. Intimidated by the Rabada short ball,
Raina moved too far across the stumps and was felled by that deadly
leg-stump Yorker by Rabada. That remains the last ODI Suresh Raina has
played. In those 28 months since then, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav,
Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya and many younger guys have crammed the
middle order spot once Raina owned thanks to his value as a utility
player.
Even
in the shortest format of Cricket, Raina has been missing in action for
long. When he arrived on our screens during IPL 2017, Raina had put on
so much of weight, it was difficult to believe our eyes. There were
jokes and memes. "Raina got married and now he's become pregnant instead
of his wife." These were the jokes and Raina definitely looked like a
lost case.
The
2017 - 18 domestic season was pretty ordinary for Raina. Rookie medium
fast bowlers were digging it short at him in domestic Cricket and guys
like Karun Nair were scoring 52 ball hundreds in domestic T20
championship. All of a sudden, ahead of Rahul, ahead of Karun, ahead of
an explosive middle order all rounder like Deepak Hooda, Suresh Raina
was given a recall. A lot of eyebrows were raised considering form,
fitness and foreign conditions did not justify the selection of Raina
for a T20 series in South Africa.
18 February 2018:
28 months after he last played an ODI against South Africa, Suresh
Raina was back in the famous blue, the Indian color. Honestly, this
writer was one of those who had written Raina off as an IPL Poney. His
strike rate and averages were still good for a No. 6 batsman in
international Cricket, in spite of many career slumps. But why go back
to a thirty plus, overweight (or pregnant) Raina when we have a lot of
younger players to take that slot ? That was the question many like me
were asking.
The
match last night gave us the answer to that question. Why the
selectors, Shastri and even Kohli were going back to Raina ? Manish
Pandey has been in and out of the team since 2014. He's played a few
brilliant knocks and has flattered to deceive many a times. The way
Pandey batted last night and the way Raina batted last night offers a
stark contrast and explains why the team management loves Raina.
With
an obviously struggling batsman like MSD on the other side, Pandey hit
just one sixer on his way to 29 off 27 balls. He looked more concerned
about his place in the side than accelerating the score in the slog
overs. Compare this to the way Suresh Raina played. With the field
restrictions on, South African bowlers taking the short ball experiment
to ridiculous levels and an in form Dhawan at the other side, Raina had
the freedom to play for his place in the side. He could have knocked the
ball around to score a 35 or so off 30 balls to make his contribution
look substantial.
Most
people would have taken the safe route back into the team but then that
isn't how Suresh Raina has played his Cricket all these years. There
isn't a more unselfish player in this team today. He went bang bang
because India still had Kohli, Pandey, Pandya and MSD behind him.
Raina's unselfish act clubbed with Rohit's early blitzkrieg presented
India with their highest 6 over score of 78/2 with Dhawan and Kohli
still at the crease. 15 runs of 7 balls is all he made but what mattered
was how he made those runs and that is what gives Suresh Raina the edge
over others.
Cricket
in this era is driven by fitness. Virat Kohli puts extreme importance
of fitness. Raina would have flunked the Yoyo test in 2017. But this
time around, he is leaner, meaner and fitter and he aced the Yoyo and
booked his ticket to South Africa right in time. World T20 is around
this year and the 2019 CWC is going to be the most important tournament
for Kohli and Co. The No. 5 and 6 slots have remained unstable and
unsettled. With his fielding still top notch, his immense experience,
more than useful off spin bowling and totally selfless batting, Suresh
Raina can still be a great asset for Team India if his zeal to play for
India remains intact. Last night, we witnessed what Raina is capable of
on the field when he made two relatively tough catches look ridiculously
easy.
Raina
has been frequently criticised as the blue eyed boy of selectors and
team managements. Often the criticism has appeared justified too,
especially when MSD was the captain. Only after Virat Kohli became full
time captain, Raina's fortunes dwindled. But even Kohli - Shastri team
recognise the value Raina brings to the team; that utterly unselfish
team man nature.
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