I feel secure now: Raina

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For Central Zone skipper Suresh Raina, the Deodhar Trophy quarterfinal against South Zone in Baroda on Saturday will be a test of his captaincy skills. More... I feel secure now: Raina Nihal Koshie / DNASaturday, March 6, 2010 Mumbai: For Central Zone skipper Suresh Raina, the Deodhar Trophy quarterfinal against South Zone in Baroda on Saturday will be a test of his captaincy skills. It isn’t the first time Raina is leading a side. Most notably, he led Uttar Pradesh successfully against Sialkot Stallions in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy in 2006 when Mohammad Kaif was ill. Raina wants to make a splash this time. “It is a knockout match and we can’t afford to make mistakes. I have got a good opportunity to lead the side and I am happy that the selectors have shown faith in me. I enjoy the challenge of leading,” Raina told DNA before heading to Baroda. On his rivals, Raina said: “South Zone is a strong side and the teams will be evenly matched. We have quality players including RP Singh, Pankaj Singh, Sudeep Tyagi and Piyush Chawla. The players know that if they perform well they can catch the eye of the selectors.” Raina is finally comfortable with his role in the ODIs. “I have a security that comes from the faith shown by the captain and the coach in my abilities. Look at Gautam Gambhir. He is performing in all three forms of the game and a lot of his confidence comes from the fact that he is secure,” Raina said. “I am really happy that my batting has become more consistent. When you realise that you are expected to perform, you work harder and want to do that much better. “Hopefully, I will be able to do better for India in the upcoming matches. Coach Gary Kirsten has really supported me and so have the seniors,” he said. DEODHAR SCHEDULE Quarterfinal: Central Zone v South Zone at Baroda, March 6 1st semifinal: East Zone v North Zone at Baroda, March 7 2nd semifinal: TBA v West Zone at Baroda, March 8 Final: At Baroda, March 9.

[achilles]

I hope you fire consistently :two_thumbs_up:

[Lord]

Raina is a potential India captaincy candidate too.hes level headed guy n if he can continue doing well he may lead the ODI side after Dhoni gives up

[rahulrulezz]

Big fan of the guy... Always play aggressively and you can depend on him to score quick and big innings against any opposition... sadly, Dhoni never plays him up the order

[donkey]

Rarely get to see him bat but this guy always handles the pressure like a veteran. Hard to believe this guy has only played only 73 innings despite being around for ages. Not to mention most of those innings only allowed him to face maximum 10 balls.

[Ram]

Suresh Raina is the VVS of the ODI team. He performs consistently and silently, even as some of his more celebrated team-mates get all the attention. Unfortunately, just like VVS, Raina is only 2 or 3 failures away from people raising questions over his place in the team. People fail to realize how his game is almost perfectly tailored to meet the demands of the modern-day one day game. Without him, our ODI outfit will be far more weaker and susceptible.

[vvvslaxman]

Very unselfish player. Always plays in the interest of team. Gives it everything.

[gult]

Now, please learn to play the short ball well.:winky:

[Karan114]

Now' date=' please learn to play the short ball well.:winky:[/quote'] :--D

[rahulrulezz]

Suresh Raina is the VVS of the ODI team. He performs consistently and silently, even as some of his more celebrated team-mates get all the attention. Unfortunately, just like VVS, Raina is only 2 or 3 failures away from people raising questions over his place in the team. People fail to realize how his game is almost perfectly tailored to meet the demands of the modern-day one day game. Without him, our ODI outfit will be far more weaker and susceptible.

:two_thumbs_up:

[ritadhi]

Raina needs to seriously work on his back foot defence and hook-pull shots. Even when he scored a century against Sri Lanka in Dhaka, he looked quite ungainly against short pitched stuff. Once he overcomes this, he will have a more secure position in the team.

[rahulrulezz]

Raina needs to seriously work on his back foot defence and hook-pull shots. Even when he scored a century against Sri Lanka in Dhaka' date=' he looked quite ungainly against short pitched stuff. Once he overcomes this, he will have a more secure position in the team.[/quote'] BullsH!t... Offcourse when you ask some1 to come in last 10 overs, you expect him to block and stop the momentum??. Let him come one-down and he will show you all the ducking and blocking against every bouncer like Dravid

[thevortex]

Does anybody here feel that the Indian ODI outfit has its batting order slightly out of shape? Dhoni walking in ahead of Raina is not something I agree with. Ask yourself who is the better finisher - Dhoni or Raina? It should then follow that Dhoni takes up the responsibility later down the innings. But he tends to leave it in the hands of Raina, Yousuf Pathan and Jadeja. I dont quite like that strategy. For many reasons I believe this could hamper Raina. If he is given an ODI batting spot which gives him an opportunity to play his own game, then it would also help India when it comes to replacing one of the seniors in the Test team when the time comes. This way, he would not be very familiar with building an innings at the highest level. Raina in my mind must be targeted as a future member of our Test team. For that and other reasons, I believe Raina must walk in ahead of Dhoni in the Indian ODI team. Am curious what ICF'ers think.

[Chalks]

Steve Waugh wasn't brilliant against short-pitched deliveries, but that still didn't stop him scoring over 10,000 runs. Of course Tests and ODIs are different kettles of fish, but still...

[spectre]

Very well summed up by M_M Though I would like Raina to bat at No.3, its not going to happen anytime soon, unless Sehwag drops down to middle order (which i feel would be best for the team) GG at 3 and Yuvi @ 4 Dhoni and Raina would come at 5 and 6

[Lord]

Does anybody here feel that the Indian ODI outfit has its batting order slightly out of shape? Dhoni walking in ahead of Raina is not something I agree with. Ask yourself who is the better finisher - Dhoni or Raina? It should then follow that Dhoni takes up the responsibility later down the innings. But he tends to leave it in the hands of Raina, Yousuf Pathan and Jadeja. I dont quite like that strategy. For many reasons I believe this could hamper Raina. If he is given an ODI batting spot which gives him an opportunity to play his own game, then it would also help India when it comes to replacing one of the seniors in the Test team when the time comes. This way, he would not be very familiar with building an innings at the highest level. Raina in my mind must be targeted as a future member of our Test team. For that and other reasons, I believe Raina must walk in ahead of Dhoni in the Indian ODI team. Am curious what ICF'ers think.

i agree with u.earlier i thought he wasnt contender for test spot n hence wasnt given enuf opportunities in ODIs,but selectors chose him in test team ahead of Kohli,so i m confused

[Karan114]

This way' date=' he would not be very familiar with building an innings at the highest level. Raina in my mind must be targeted as a future member of our Test team. For that and other reasons, I believe Raina must walk in ahead of Dhoni in the Indian ODI team. Am curious what ICF'ers think.[/quote'] Raina has shown little in first class cricket to suggest he is a potential Test batsman. If he was making a strong case there, I would be inclined to agree with you, but as things stand, he is doing a very good job for the ODI team from where he bats.

[Lord]

Raina has shown little in first class cricket to suggest he is a potential Test batsman. If he was making a strong case there' date=' I would be inclined to agree with you, but as things stand, he is doing a very good job for the ODI team from where he bats.[/quote'] i agree but the selectors selected him in test sqyad for SA test,so i dont know what they want

[Karan114]

i agree but the selectors selected him in test sqyad for SA test' date='so i dont know what they want[/quote'] True, they are a confused bunch these selectors.

[thevortex]

I am not talking about today or tomorrow. There will be a time when Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman will hang up their boots. Do you guys think that Raina will not be among those discussed for a middle order spot in Test matches. I, for sure, think that he would be among the top contenders. All that apart where is the logic in having Dhoni come up at No.4 and leaving the finishing job to Raina, Jadeja and Yousuf Pathan?