Left-handed batsman Suresh Raina made a comeback into India’s One Day International (ODI) squad after almost three years during the 1st ODI against England today at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Raina last featured in Indian ODI squad in October 2015 against South Africa in Mumbai. He scored just 12 runs as South African pacer Kagiso Rabada bowled him out.
Raina has so far played 223 ODIs and scored 5,568 runs, including 5 centuries and 36 half-centuries with his highest total being 116 not out.
Soon after Virat Kohli announced the playing XI for today’s game, Indian fans took to Twitter and termed Raina’s selection over Dinesh Karthik ‘a blunder’.
Raina in ODI playing XI after 32 months…
Rahul in ODI playing XI after 10 months…
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) July 12, 2018
Not selecting Karthik again is a blunder…whole country wants Karthik to play in place of Raina except Kohli and team management..if preparing a team for 2019WC then Karthik is a must #ENGvIND
— Pravi (@PraviRCBian) July 12, 2018
That’s the limit..you have DK sitting out there and is in good form. Why the hell are they backing Raina, I just can’t understand. Absolute arrogance.
— Prakhar (@prakharshubham) July 12, 2018
Bringing Suresh Raina back is a good move but only if he is going to chip in a bit with the ball as well as otherwise DK is clearly the better batsman who is also in form #ENGvIND
— Hari Sadanandan (@iamharry_88) July 12, 2018
Nice to see Kaul getting his opportunity. Has a great potential as a bowler.. on the other hand I dnt think raina has the technique to survie.
— @i am Ganesh (@gbkamthe) July 12, 2018
Besides Raina, Siddharth Kaul is also making his ODI debut as Bhuvneshwar Kumar is out due to injury. T20 star KL Rahul also found his place in the playing XI after 10 months. Rahul last featured in the 50-over game in August 2017 against Sri Lanka.
England, on the other hand, have included Dawid Malan in the team.
Earlier, Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and he elected to bowl first in the first match of the three-match series.
Squads:
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav
