TIME TO MAKE AMENDS: RINGSIDE VIEW

Suresh Raina looks to be in sublime form at the moment in limited-overs cricket and is entering a very crucial phase of his career. But he needs to play a good amount of catch-up

Suresh Raina looks to be in sublime form, but he needs to play a good amount of catch-up

RED BALL cricket makes India red-faced. This is simply because they’re not good enough when the cherry moves in the air, or off the deck. Losing Test matches overseas has now become the nor m for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team, but this column is not about India’s longer-for mat incompetence. It is about a left-handed middle-order batsman who looks to be in sublime for m at the moment in limited-overs cricket and is still young enough to upgrade his game for Test level. Suresh Raina is entering a very crucial phase of his career and needs to play a good amount of catch-up.

Raina was ignored for the Test series in England. It wasn’t a surprise, for he has been a failure so far at that level. Raina made his Test debut four years ago and had started of f with a century at Sinhalese Sports Club. He was tipped as Sourav Ganguly’s natural successor, but the comparison tur ned out to be premature. His frailties were exposed quickly. Short ball became his bugbear.

Only 17 Test matches in four years with 768 runs at a very modest average of 28.44 highlight Raina’s weakness in flannels. He, however, continued to flourish in the shorter for mats till a slump, last season, stalled his progress. Just one halfcentury in 22 innings was bad enough to lose his place in the team for the Asia Cup earlier this year. The omission must have hurt his ego, for Raina came roaring back to form in the IPL, scoring a surreal 25ball 87 in the Qualifier 2 against Kings XI Punjab.

It was mesmeric. Chennai Super Kings were chasing an improbable 227 for victory in 20 overs but looked to be cruising when Raina was batting. They eventually faltered in the chase but the southpaw retur ned a winner. It was perhaps the innings of all IPLs. More importantly, it was a performance that made Raina supremely confident. He now appears to be a changed batsman.

He was confidence personified during his 75-ball 100 in the second ODI against England at Cardiff— effectively the series opener after the first match in Bristol was rained out. The innings was also hugely important from India’s context.

The team was in tur moil after the abject humiliation in Tests. Batting looked wafer-thin and bowling club standard. And at 19 for two, nerves were once again jangling.

Raina, however, was not carrying the excess baggage of Test defeats and took the attack to the opposition. England never expected that. They became too shaken to put up a fight in the whole ODI series. Forget the appointments of new support staff and presence of a team director, Raina’s century— his first in four years—was the tur ning point.

Every team looks for on-field inspiration when the chips are down and morale is low. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid provided that on a sultry early summer day in Kolkata way back in 2001. Raina scored his century in a different for mat and against a much weaker opponent. But the conditions were difficult and his team was under huge pressure. It was inspirational.

The big question is, what next? At 27, he’s not a spring chicken. The amount of talent he has, Raina should have cemented his place in the Test team by now. What went wrong?

Short ball is Raina’s problem. But only a handful could manage it properly. Vijay Hazare, GR Viswanath, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman—the list ends there. They’re all greats of the game.

Players like Yuvraj Singh could never muster the courage or technique to counter the short ball and ended up as a Test failure. Mohinder Amar nath, on the other hand, worked on his game, after his initial struggles against shortpitched bowling, and became one of the best players in the world to conquer pace. Indian cricket wants Raina to follow Amar nath’s path. He has the ability. It’s about changing the mindset.

We’ve a tendency to blame the IPL after every Indian Test debacle. “In fact, I fear that it (IPL) shouldn’t be there at all as it is changing the priorities in world cricket. Players are slaves to it. Administrators bow to it,” said Ian Botham, while delivering the 2014 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture.

If the for mer England allrounder had checked properly, every young player in the Indian dressing-room would have told him how much they valued Test cricket. It is their Holy Grail, and Raina is no different.

Hopefully Raina’s present for m in limited-overs cricket will help him get one more opportunity in Tests. West Indies are coming next month and then Indian will go for a four-Test series Down Under. There’s vacancy in the middle-order and Raina must grab his chance. It’s time for him to make amends or go bust.

Short ball is Raina’s problem, but he has the ability. It’s about changing the mindset