Durban, Dec. 22: It took five years and 98 one-day internationals for Suresh Raina to go from serving drinks in Test matches to actually playing in one and being served for a change.
The dimunitive batsman grabbed a berth in the playing XI of a Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo early this year after an illness forced an already out-of-form Yuvraj Singh to the sidelines. As it turned out, Yuvraj never came back with Raina hitting a hundred on debut – the 12th Indian to do so – and securing the No.6 spot.
So far, that is. Six months on, it’s Raina whose neck is on the chopping block ahead of India’s second Test against South Africa at Durban beginning on Sunday and it’s the talented Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara who’s being thought of as his replacement by Indian team think-tank.
“It looks quite unlikely for him to be retained, unless he can convince he can face the short ball properly,” a team source told this newspaper on Wednesday. “There’s no use of playing an extra bowler, so Pujara could get the call-up.”
If that happens, it could spell disaster for the talented left-hander’s confidence. Raina has played a lot of international cricket and there is something to be said about feeling comfortable in that environment.
The numbers don’t lie, though. Since making 32 against Australia in Bangalore, he has had scores of 3, 0, 20, 3, 1 and 5. In the three Tests, India played against the New Zealand at home a month back, he managed just 26 from four innings.
Raina’s two dismissals in the first test at Centurion - hanging his bat outside off to a short-of-a-length delivery in the first innings and following it with a inexplicable straight bunt into the slips in the second – was the last straw and seemed to have robbed him of even skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s support.
“To some extent, yes,” Dhoni said when asked if Raina’s form, or the lack of it, was cause for concern. But he tried defending him, saying that “you need a bit of experience to play under these conditions.”
“The last time he came here was in 2006, and he was not part of the (Test) side. He has played some ODIs and T20s, which is a completely different format. Against the red ball, the approach changes, the mindset changes. You need a bit of time. I think he will get back to form soon,” Dhoni said.
Raina is still one of India’s cleanest strikers and a good finisher in a limited-overs game, but his relationship with the short-pitched ball is marked by discomfort. If the bowler is at the top of his run, Raina doesn’t look forward to a bouncer from him.
“His technique from what I can gather is not suited to the South African conditions,” former South African coach Mickey Arthur told this newspaper. “You require solid backfoot play and the patience to leave a lot of balls – both of which I find I missing with him.”
South Africa have been a bug-bear of sorts for Raina. He was dropped midway through India’s one-day series against the Proteas four years back and it took him the next 18 months of toil in domestic cricket to make a comeback. The questions being raised right now are not his ability – there’s no denying the enormous talent – but on his temperament to buckle down on pitches that aren’t flat.