All rounder Suresh Raina is selected in Indian squad for the upcoming tour of Australia. The talented southpaw is a regular member in India’s ODI squad, but he couldn’t seal his place in the test team yet. He lost his place in the ODI side too earlier this year, but the determined Raina worked hard and later on, cemented his place in the ODI team. Out of 16 ODIs that Raina played this year, he has successfully scored 528 runs at an impressive average of 41.
Suresh Raina picked in for India’s tour of Australia
Suresh Raina who played his last test a couple of years back in September 2012, is now again picked in for the Indian test team. Team manager Ravi Shastri showed enormous faith in the 28-years-old. Shastri is expected to be the man behind Raina’s inclusion. However, a word of caution for the young cricketer is to deliver this time and earn a permanent place in this format of the game.
Raina’s career stat in tests is definitely not so impressive. He is a magnificent player in ODIs and T20s but when it comes to tests, the left hander needs to work upon his techniques and footwork to overcome his flaws particularly against those tempted bouncers and short pitch deliveries. Out of 17 tests that the middle-order batsman played so far, he scored 768 runs only with 1 century and 7 fifties as well. His average in tests is just 28, which is below the expectation. Nonetheless, if he proves his mettle in Australia later this year, he could confirm his place as a quality all rounder for the team in tests.
Apart from Raina amongst other players who made headlines with this selection are the Railways leg-spinner Karn Sharma and the Karnataka batsman K L Rahul. While it is certain that Shikhar Dhawan will open the inning, but amongst the reserve openers’ slot the Karnataka batsman has made it to the probable. The 22-year-old Karnataka batsman scored 1158 runs at a good average of 53 in 2013-14 first-class season. His excellent performance in Ranji Trophy helped Karnataka win the coveted cup. He also smashed a century against Australia A while playing for India A squad earlier this year.
Karn Sharma is playing as a reserved member for Team India in the current undergoing ODI series against Sri Lanka. The UP based leg spinner is famous for his googlies. He created headlines with his performances in IPL 2013. He has played 34 first class matches since his debut in 2007 and took 66 wickets. Karn is a quality leg break bowler and can bowl good deliveries at his ease. A couple of years back Karn also earned the title ‘Best Under-25 Cricketer’ in the country.
The Indian spin attack has strengthened with the inclusion of 27-year-old cricketer. Now India’s spin department will revolve around the likes of R. Ashwin, Ravinder Jadeja and Karn Sharma. Former test cricketer Rahul Dravid also felt that spinners will have to bowl well if India want to win the test series down under.
The 19 member squad for India’s tour of Australia 2014-15:
MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Naman Ojha (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karn Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron & Mohammed Shami.
Tags: Australia, Cricket, India, Indian Squad, Suresh Raina, Test Team
