Comeback trail: 4 reasons why Suresh Raina is doing just enough
“Raina should get a bat sponsor now,” roared Sanjay Manjrekar from the commentary box as Suresh Raina hit a towering six off Dushmantha Chameera over square leg in India’s second encounter with Sri Lanka of the Nidahas Trophy. Raina was hitting cleanly, much to the delight of the Indian fans.
What made this inning all-the-more special was the fact that the veteran batsman was not only pouncing on the length deliveries but also dispatching the short pitched balls towards the boundary, something which has been his perennial weakness.
Moreover, it was not in the usual fashion that the southpaw was hopping or getting inside the line of the rising deliveries to tuck them away towards fine leg. This time he was keeping his eyes on the ball till the last moment and clobbering it towards long leg or square leg with the full swing of the bat.
This is an augury that he is gradually coming back to his own in international cricket. Here are four reasons which state that Suresh Raina is doing just enough on his comeback trail.
#1 Getting consistent starts
In the very first match that Raina played after his return to international cricket, Virat Kohli promoted him to No. 3 in the batting order. The southpaw came all guns blazing and tried to hit every ball out of the ground. He timed a couple of shots to score a quick-fire 15 off 7 balls, but in the process lost his wicket. The way he approached his batting invited a lot of flak as it is no secret that Raina can do much better than just slog the ball.
He rectified his mistake in the following matches but still, the manner in which Raina is throwing his wicket away is most disappointing. However, with scores of 27, 28, 1, 43, 31 and 15 in his last six matches respectively, one can see that he has been consistently getting starts.