In a Bid to Earn National Call-Up, Suresh Raina Set to Appear for Fitness Test
Jan 9, 2019 at 4:06 PM
In a bid to earn a national call-up, the discarded Indian batsman Suresh Raina is all set to appear for a fitness test at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. The news was announced by Raina himself on social media –
After months of hard work it's time for an evaluation. Off to NCA! Looking forward. #enroute #Bangalore ✈️ pic.twitter.com/3zWufsU8NJ
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) August 8, 2017
Raina is eyeing the limited over series against Sri Lanka. Though he might find it difficult to make a place in the ODI team due to a settled line-up. However, he is an automatic selection if talking of T20I format. The prime reason for Raina not travelling with the team to Windies for T20I series was because the team flew directly from England after the conclusion of ICC Champions Trophy and also, there was only one T20I game that was played on the tour. So the selectors decided to name a common squad for both the series.
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Raina last played an ODI game in the year 2015 against South Africa in Mumbai. He was recalled to the Indian team for the first three ODIs against New Zealand last year but was ruled out due to viral fever. He was not called in the ODI team thereafter but was named in the T20I squad for the home series against England, where he emerged out as the highest run scorer for India with a total of 104 runs in three games.
The left-handed batsman came into headline when he played just three domestic games in the season for UP and missed rest of the domestic season, despite being named in the side for each and every tournament. BCCI sent him a reminder by not handing him a central contract, despite him being part of the series against England.
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Raina also missed the cut for the ICC Champions Trophy to Manish Pandey – who was later replaced by Dinesh Karthik. Though Raina was named as one of the five backup players for the tournament.
Through this fitness test, Raina will bid for a spot in the limited overs side, at least in one format. The limited overs series between India and Sri Lanka starts on August 20.
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