ahilya Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 Raina - standing up to the short ball in style The vicious short-pitched delivery was angled into the left-hander and the alert batsman swayed away from the line. Crucially, Suresh Raina kept his eyes on the ball.It was a reassuring sight. Not too long ago, Raina would have been opened up by such a well-directed lifter. Now, he was all poise and confidence when the fiery slinger Fidel Edwards let it rip on the bouncy track at Kensington Oval. Ahead of the high profile Test series in England, it does appear that Raina has turned the corner against the short-pitched delivery. Both mentally and technically, he seems to have made the switch. Raina was among the Indian success stories in the bowler-dominated three-Test series in the Caribbean with 232 runs in three Tests at 46.40. Both Sabina Park and Kensington Oval, the venues for the first two Tests, offered considerable bounce for the pacemen, but the determined southpaw was not found wanting. Raina's fighting 82 in the first Test at Kingston and his precious 53 in Bridgetown were made in adverse situations. Importantly, he was getting into better side-on positions against the short- pitched deliveries. With 605 runs in 11 Tests at 37.81, Raina's numbers are creditable, but he needs to raise the bar. As a left-hander and a natural stroke-maker, he adds so much to the pack in the Indian middle-order. The southpaw from Uttar Pradesh, certain to figure in the eleven when India meets England in the first Test at Lord's on July 21, stares into what could well prove career-defining days. Working on techniques Vasu Paranjpe, the master technician, says, “While playing short-pitched bowling from good fast bowlers, it is not enough to only venture into the back and across movement with one foot, your back foot. Your front foot too has to travel back and across so that you would at a sort of stance position near the off-stump. You need to use both your feet. If you use only one of them, you will be opened up.†Mr. Paranjpe adds, “And when you decide to hook or pull, you must be able to get on top of the ball. On the few occasions that Raina pulled, he got on top of the ball. He is a selfless cricketer and a team-man. I like his attitude.†The-24-year-old Raina has won a lot of supporters lately with his still head, decisive footwork and pleasingly side-on methods. On those occasions when Edwards, in particular, got the ball to climb into his chest, Raina, rising on his toes, managed to keep the delivery down with soft hands. During a batsman's trigger movement, his chin should be within the toe-line to maintain the centre of gravity. If it goes beyond, a batsman would be falling over. Raina had this problem early on; he was not taking a full step forward down the track. When he shuffled, his head was not still. Now, we are seeing a different Raina. In sharp contrast, Virat Kohli, with the short-legs, the silly point and the gully lurking, jabbed hard at the ball to keep the close catchers busy. While Kohli's bat-speed is an asset during the Twenty20 matches, the same attribute becomes a chink while coping with mean short-pitched deliveries from the quicks in Tests. Here, a batsman needs to take all the weight off the bat and the gloves and hold the willow with soft hands. Gaekwad's views Anshuman Gaekwad, a brave opening batsman for India in the 70s and 80s, feels Raina is coping much better with the lifters. “Earlier, he used to jump with the ball, which proved suicidal. Now, he is still and watches the ball. He is more side-on, which is good. And he gets inside the line, when he wants to hook or pull. The difference between Raina and Kohli is that Kohli is so much chest-on. So, Kohli is likely to pop up catches against the rising deliveries.†The chances are that the new and improved Raina will have a successful campaign in England.
Yoda-esque Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 Lets reserve judgement on this till after the England series:--D
Show_stopper Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 The way he negotiated the short stuff came as a real surprise...even to his loyal fans like me. Earlier there was always that element of fear while evading the ball. On the carribean tour he was very assured when he evaded/ducked. More Importantly never took his eyes of the ball.
Cricket Tragic Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 Lets reserve judgement on this till after the England series:--D +++
saneindian Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 This is a huge series for Raina. If he does reasonably well here, it could very well set him on the way to a wonderful long term test career. Given how he showed the maturity in WI during the tests, no reason why he shouldn't do well here. He could actually be one of our lynchpins in taming Swann in this series.
cowboysfan Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 Lets reserve judgement on this till after the England series:--D exactly.you can bet the farm that he will tested exclusively with short balls.
daryl1985 Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 This is a huge series for Raina. If he does reasonably well here, it could very well set him on the way to a wonderful long term test career. Given how he showed the maturity in WI during the tests, no reason why he shouldn't do well here. He could actually be one of our lynchpins in taming Swann in this series. I agree, he is really good against Spin. He has most impressive batsman against Saeed Ajmal if i am not mistaken.
Karan114 Posted July 19, 2011 Posted July 19, 2011 England will pepper him with the short stuff, so will be interesting to see if he can cope.
Jayaram_IND Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 In WI all he had to do was play the short stuff but in England he must also play the swinging deliveries well.the Dismissals of mukund (3rd test 2nd inns ) and raina (3rd test 1st inns) by fidel edwards have shown that you must not only play back and accross but must also be alive to the full swinging ball.i picked these two players because they seemed to be more vulnerable to such dismissals.I remember sachin(ofcourse he is the master) use an open stance against sidebottom to make sure he doesnt play around his front pad. Hope they learn from him or gambhir(someone who had the problem which he rectified).I brought this up because eng doesnt only have tremlett or broad they also have anderson .ALL THE BEST to both Raina and India and hope they win the series.
Cricket Tragic Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 In WI all he had to do was play the short stuff but in England he must also play the swinging deliveries well.the Dismissals of mukund (3rd test 2nd inns ) and raina (3rd test 1st inns) by fidel edwards have shown that you must not only play back and accross but must also be alive to the full swinging ball.i picked these two players because they seemed to be more vulnerable to such dismissals.I remember sachin(ofcourse he is the master) use an open stance against sidebottom to make sure he doesnt play around his front pad. Hope they learn from him or gambhir(someone who had the problem which he rectified).I brought this up because eng doesnt only have tremlett or broad they also have anderson .ALL THE BEST to both Raina and India and hope they win the series. Agree. The ball swinging into Raina and Mukund from Anderson will be something to watch out for. They will push the batsmen back and then slip in the full delivery swinging in or the wide ball.
Ultimate_Game Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 England will pepper him with the short stuff' date=' so will be interesting to see if he can cope.[/quote'] This can work in Raina and India's favor. English conditions support swing and the best way to get a wicket is to pitch the ball up. If Eng bowlers buy into the hype around Indians struggling against short pitched stuff it will suit us just fine as generally short pitched deliveries seldom get you wickets.
Yoda-esque Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Agree. The ball swinging into Raina and Mukund from Anderson will be something to watch out for. They will push the batsmen back and then slip in the full delivery swinging in or the wide ball. Right On.Especially Mukund.We saw how he likes to flick the on the onside like S Ramesh. Thats a risky propostion against swing with the LBW (since he walks across to flick),Leading edge to short midwicket as well as the cleanbowled all coming into play.
DeepFineLeg Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 We are hardly experts of short stuff barring Laxman and to some extent Tendulkar. Who else in our team can hook or pull well with consistency?
Karan114 Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 This can work in Raina and India's favor. English conditions support swing and the best way to get a wicket is to pitch the ball up. If Eng bowlers buy into the hype around Indians struggling against short pitched stuff it will suit us just fine as generally short pitched deliveries seldom get you wickets. I think Andy Flower is too smart to advocate a short pitched strategy against the senior batsmen (whatever trash talking about "chin music" they do in public). Its Raina who will be brutally tested by the short ball, and then as CT says, they will slip in a full ball when he is camped on the back foot. Tremlett naturally gets a lot of bounce because he uses his height so well, so it will be a real test for Suresh. Of course, if he can come through in this series, nothing like it.
Karan114 Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Agree. The ball swinging into Raina and Mukund from Anderson will be something to watch out for. They will push the batsmen back and then slip in the full delivery swinging in or the wide ball. Yeah, I was really concerned by Mukund's technique against that type of ball moving sharply into him in the West Indies. Can't see him lasting long in these conditions, I'm afraid.
Sid Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 Raina vs Morgan during the test matches will be a good contest.Both are very similar in batting ,good LOI players,lets see who wins the race between the 2 in tests.Cmon Raina :cheer:
Laaloo Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 We are hardly experts of short stuff barring Laxman and to some extent Tendulkar. Who else in our team can hook or pull well with consistency? No need to hook or pull when you can do this :winky: BANUN31y2zY
Cricket Tragic Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 England have got a special 'stats and analysis' team working overtime at their academy in Loughborough for this series and they've been looking at scoring areas and dismissals of the players. Talk that England might use a fly slip against Tendulkar to eliminate that shot and force him to pull the ball. Also talks of a short mid on to block out the straight drive. Australia used this in Bangalore last year and it didn't work. They might also use the square leg just behind square to catch the flick in the air. They did a lot of analysis on this and used it vs Tendulkar in the WC game in Bangalore. Flether has also been doing a bit of work apparently. He was described in a paper today as 'a genius who dissects batting techniques for breakfast'.
DeepFineLeg Posted July 20, 2011 Posted July 20, 2011 No need to hook or pull when you can do this :winky: ...yes, an amazing shot
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