Dhoni says Raina may be rested for Centurion Test if he plays all NZ ODIs

[fineleg]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-new-zealand-2010/content/current/story/488601.html Dhoni was specifically asked whether Raina would be replaced at Centurion by Cheteshwar Pujara or M Vijay if he didn't have a break for the last three one-day matches against New Zealand. "If he doesn't get a break in the ODI series [after the first 2 games] then you have to [replace him]," Dhoni said. "He is at a point where he needs a break from cricket." "A 10 to 15-day break will really help him. He has played as much cricket as I have or most of other cricketers. He has played one more series in Zimbabwe. At times international cricket really drains you. More than the physical part it's always that mental part that is important. Unfortunately, most of the senior players are missing from the ODI series which means he had to play." Raina struggled during the Test series against New Zealand, scoring 26 runs in four innings, and was named in the squad for the first two one-dayers. There is only a five-day gap between the end of the ODI series against New Zealand and the start of the first Test in South Africa. Dhoni said India had toyed with the idea of resting Raina for the Nagpur Test against New Zealand but decided to play him in the hope that he might be rested. "One of the options was to give him a rest during the last Test match, but we thought he was most likely to get a break in the ODIs, so we played him in the Test. "Unfortunately, he is not getting a break in the ODIs also. So, it's a bit tough on him. If he does well, hopefully he will get an opportunity to get a bit of rest in the last few ODI games. It will come to how the performance is in the first two ODIs."

[urbestfriend]

Bloody rest him for ODI..Who gives a frack about ODI series :mad: Raina needs a rest badly, he's been playing too much international cricket.

[TheWall]

the way he is playing, he might need a rest from both ODI & Test

[Sid]

He should have been resTed for ODI series,it was wrong on the part of our selectors to select him,he has been playing continous cricket this year including IPL and CL t20,without taking any break

[jusarrived]

quite clear Dhoni wants to try Pujara in first test

[King Tendulkar]

Dhoni with no subtle spin here. Looks like pujara may force his way in

[Sachinism]

Strange way to drop him

[achilles]

Master Politician.... thats a smart way to drop a player.

[cowboysfan]

Master Politician.... thats a smart way to drop a player.

its pretty lame.you give a player a grade A contract and you have no trust in him for a pivotal series after just one poor series?.

[kabira]

He is clearlly telling BCCI to rest him for last 3 ODIs

[The Dark Horse]

aha...:wink_smile:

[saneindian]

Aah, the conspiracy theories!! How about the fact that he wants to give Raina a go in the 1st test in SA and hence wants him to land there early along with the other seniors. So indirectly saying send him to SA along with the first batch and dont play him in all 5 ODis there by giving him just 2 days in SA (and hence increasing his chances of a failure in the 1st test).

[jusarrived]

Aah, the conspiracy theories!! How about the fact that he wants to give Raina a go in the 1st test in SA and hence wants him to land there early along with the other seniors. So indirectly saying send him to SA along with the first batch and dont play him in all 5 ODis there by giving him just 2 days in SA (and hence increasing his chances of a failure in the 1st test).

its hardly a conspiracy . Both scenarios are possible ..Raina hasnt been in the best of form & if he thinks it will be a risk playing him in SA & feels safe with Pujara , nothing wrong in that . imho its a very tough call .

[jusarrived]

its pretty lame.you give a player a grade A contract and you have no trust in him for a pivotal series after just one poor series?.

Raina is not a pivotal player for the test team , not yet .am huge raina fan , but his from is big concern

[The Realist]

More than resting players, how about playing a warm-up game before the test series? Brain-dead planning.

[Ram]

What Dhoni says makes absolutely no sense (why would you 'rest' your middle order, just because he played all the ODIs in the prior series in NZ), unless of course you're look at it from the point of view that he is firing shielded salvos at the selectors and literally telling them 'If you dont rest Raina from the squad for the last 3 ODIs, I will even go the extent of dropping him for the first test and risk throwing all our well-laid plans for the Saffie series into utter turmoil..’. It is pretty obvious that the team management had asked for Raina to be rested for the NZ series and by the looks of it, the selectors would have complied as well, unless of course there was intervention from the higher echelons of the BCCI who were afraid to rub their corporate sponsors the wrong way by playing an India ‘B’ team for a high profile home ODI series. But this is great - This is the 2nd time in the last one week alone that MSD has been at logger heads with the BCCI. First he clashed with them reg. the state of our pitches. Now, it is the squad selection. We have some interesting times ahead.

[Aniruddha]

still its very difficult for pujara to perform at No 6 if hes in

[cowboysfan]

still its very difficult for pujara to perform at No 6 if hes in

good point.If (a big if)Pujara plays instead of Raina then they have to play him at three.he is a totally different player than Raina and will probably not relish having to play with the Tail.

[jusarrived]

still its very difficult for pujara to perform at No 6 if hes in

yeah ? Bancs ka EOD hogaya ? :cantstop:

[diegovegaz]

no conspiracy here raina really does need a break in fact, we need raina in full flow for the world cup, he should be rested for the entire test series pujara will get a full test series to show his capability