Suresh Raina!

[Gaurav]

What is the verdict? He is only 20! :mama: Should he be fast tracked into the national team? Btw what was his injury? http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/317058.html Of the cricketers on the national selectors' waiting-list, Suresh Raina's name requires an asterisk preceding it. Often over-hyped and later teased by his own mates for being Greg Chappell's favourite, Raina, only 20, found himself bogged down. Easily one of the best fielders in the country, he had to return to Uttar Pradesh after playing his last one-day international against West Indies at home in January this year.

[Lurker]

Good player who was failed by "super-expectation" and the politics that is Indian cricket. His prime guilt was he is from UP which until recently would have been reason enough never to represent the country. His second guilt is that Greg Chappell thought very very highly of him, so much so that even the Seniors poked fun at him as Greg-Chappell's boy. The boy, he is still only 20, did play some decent knocks coming late in the middle order and was easily the best fielder inside the circle, and that is saying something when you have Yuvi and Kaif playing alongside. Still got rough end of the stick due to whole Greg Chappell saga. I dont rate him as a Test player but he is a good LOI player for sure. Needs to be given more chances. Come to think of it India is having a problems of whom to pick and whom to drop - Raina, Utthappa, Tiwari, Sharma, Badrinath yada yada...it is a good problem to have really. xxx

[Ram]

He is one for the keeps. Not still fully satisfied with his run-making abilities,but his temperament is outstanding. Still cant forget one of his partnerships with Dhoni against Sri Lanka , where both of them impassively guided India to a win after being under pressure. To have such sort of maturity when you are just 18 and hardly a few months old in international cricket is outstanding , considering the fact that players like Afridi are still going through the puberty stage in cricketing intelligence after nearly a decade at the office. Players who can hold their nerve under pressure are more valuable than more naturally talented players. Only a cool head will win you matches at the international level. For that reason alone, Raina , Parthiv should all be monitored and kept in contention.

[jf1gp_1]

There is no doubt that Raina has it all as a batsman infact some ex-player even compared Raina to a young Lara. The question is will he do justice to that gift he has. He did do well against Pak in ODIs last year. Lets see how he performs in the remaining games.

[Cricketics]

guy played really well yesterday.. imean team was in freakin trouble like 30 odd for 3 or 4 down and he continued to play his shots and scored a match winning 92..

[jf1gp_1]

I dont rate him as a Test player but he is a good LOI player for sure. xxx

what makes you say that ??

[Ram]

His batting still has some minor flaws. He is more of the Gautam Gambhir mould. They dont generate that much power in their ground strokes like a Sachin( timing) or a Dhoni ( power) or a Yuvraj ( power+timing) and is are not natural piercers of the field like a Ganguly. So there is an over-reliance on the lofted shots , which means the risk is more and hence they get out cheaply often. I dont think Raina can ever be as prodigious as a Sachin/Ganguly. He is more a street-smart batsman in the Bevan mould. If in the team , he will make runs but he will never stand out.

[Lurker]

what makes you say that ??

Just the nature of his game really. He is a hustler, the kind who will score 36 in 41 deliveries and only include 3 fours. He is the kind that shall drop the ball towards short mid-off and then hustle for a quick single. Such players have a good impact in shorter version but he would be hard pressed to play a long innings(say 150 +) with that kind of atitude. If I am not mistaken he has not played a Test yet so who knows maybe he would prove me wrong but my personal image of the guy is a watchable version of Michael Bevan. xxx

[DesiChap]

We will never know unless we give him enough chances. Raina, Tiwary, Rohit Sharma should be rotated in the Pak ODI Series. One 1 of SRT/Gangs and RD should play the Pak ODI matches at a time. I would not mid seeing the veteran trio being rested for the Pak ODI's

[The Outsider]

I still maintain what I said when I first saw this guy - he is one for the future, has it to go the distance. If only our selectors look past failed rubble like Yuvraj.

[Holysmoke]

Needs to be in the squad. Raina, Tiwary, Badrinath, Rohit, Gambhir.. wow... we do have really good bench strength... with 3 good pacers, (Sree, RP, Zaheer) Actually I would count Irfan as a pacer too.. He's been bowling at 140.. which is pretty fast! so thats 4 pacers.. with eggy as someone who you can call upon when needed(we know what he offers) Spinners -> got chawla, kartik, and bhajji... 2 wc's in Karthik and Dhoni... really really good signs!

[Ijlal]

Wasnt he given a long run under Chappal and failed miserably.

[gator]

hmm... i see the kashmiri connection there, eh Gaurav? :hatsoff: neways, his fielding alone merits a place in the odi team.. but he has atleast another year to go, in my opinion.... the youngster needs more variety in his strokes... granted, he can put away the loose balls with style... but he cannot dominate good balls as yet... there were a couple of matches where he jus froze against tight bowling and brought down the team between 30-40 overs...

[bharat297]

Again, a couple of good performances and people believe he should be fast tracked into the squad. He is playing well, he is only 20. Give him maybe 2 more seasons of domestic cricket, and if his form continues to improve as it has then he will be a better player at international level when he gets the chance. Picking him now will do him more harm than good.

[Bumper]

Nah, Raina has had his fair no. of chances & has failed to cement his spot and this inspite of the backing he had from Chappell, who is so judgemental on players. When i saw the clueless Raina against Lee in the ICC CT, I was convinced that this boy is more hype than substance, which was only confirmed in his tour to South Africa. Against genuine pace & bounce, he hasnt had one decent innings. All this talk about potential, elegance and shot making has to be backed by numbers at some point. He will get one more run in the near future, if he fails to cement his spot, that may be the end of Raina

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

I still maintain what I said when I first saw this guy - he is one for the future' date=' has it to go the distance. If only our selectors look past failed rubble like Yuvraj.[/quote'] HAHAHA MAN U R A BLOODY JOKE

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Nah, Raina has had his fair no. of chances & has failed to cement his spot and this inspite of the backing he had from Chappell, who is so judgemental on players. When i saw the clueless Raina against Lee in the ICC CT, I was convinced that this boy is more hype than substance, which was only confirmed in his tour to South Africa. Against genuine pace & bounce, he hasnt had one decent innings. All this talk about potential, elegance and shot making has to be backed by numbers at some point. He will get one more run in the near future, if he fails to cement his spot, that may be the end of Raina

I agree with bumper here and will like to point out the hypocricy of posters liek shwetabh and salil here. They liek to bring yuvrajs stats of 19( inconsistent runs) tests yet wont judge raina by the same yardstick........

[Yuvraj4Captaincy]

Wasnt he given a long run under Chappal and failed miserably.

Shwetabh and company only remember when yuvraj is given a decent run in tests once and he didnt completely capitalized on it and for that he should never ever play tests agin..oh booo hooooo. Do not argue with him or he will bring up the stat of yuvrajs average of 33 in tests again to prove how bad of a player he is....hahahaha

[Dravid]

hopefully he gets picked for last 3 odi's...another nice knock today

[ludhianvi]

He has looked good in the Challenger Trophy. Infact quite a few other players have looked good.