Suresh Raina was not picked in the Indian squad for T20I series against Australia which will start from October 7. Raina has been knocking on the selectors’ door for a while now. At first, a few reports claimed that Raina had not cleared the Yo-Yo fitness test, however, he dismissed such reports later on. Raina does not strike a person who would give up that easily. Raina has lost weight and has been training hard regardless of whether he gets picked in the side or not. He did not even let a minor road accident come in the way of a Duleep Trophy match. He is currently preparing for Ranji Trophy season 2017-18. The 30-year-old will be leading the Uttar Pradesh side in Ranji Trophy season.
Three days after the T20I squad was announced, the southpaw tweeted a video of himself working hard to keep himself fit. Here’s the tweet from Raina on October 3:
Be stronger than your strongest excuse! Don’t skip your legs and back day! #Workout #Fitness #Regime #FitnessIsLifestyle #Training #Legs pic.twitter.com/tSp5XtAPFI
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) October 3, 2017
Raina’s fans had expected him to make a comeback for the T20I series against Australia. The last T20I he played was against England in January 2017 where he went on to score 63 runs from 45 balls with the help of 2 fours and 5 sixes.
Here is a video of Raina practising in Lucknow ahead of Ranji Trophy:
Practice harder than you think you did yesterday! Had a superb net session, this morning! #Nets #Practice #Lucknow #RanjiTrophy pic.twitter.com/TGZnghYfa0
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) October 4, 2017
Despite Gujarat Lions (GL) being unable to make it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 playoffs, Raina played well throughout the tournament. The GL skipper scored fifth highest runs in IPL 2017. He scored 442 runs in 14 games including three half-centuries with an average of 40.18.
Raina could be an answer to India’s No 4 batsman woes. The left-hander has improved his play drastically against fast bowlers, especially while tackling the short balls which were once his weakness. There is a chance that he gets selected in India’s squad against New Zealand. It will be quite a wait for him to make a comeback as he has not played a single ODI since October 2015.
