Suresh Raina’s form should force India to take drastic step for remaining ODIs vs South Africa

Raina was dismissed for his second consecutive duck during India's 18-run loss to SA in the 3rd ODI.

The third One-Day International (ODI) between India and South Africa at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot saw the former collapse from a position of strength during their chase of a competitive target. This is the second such collapse in the 50-over series, with India conceding a 1-2 lead to the visitors as a result in their own conditions. Amit Banerjee feels that Suresh Raina’s failures in the middle-order has a major say in this, and that it is time Raina is shown the door for the remaining two ODIs in order to get back to his old form.

The ongoing Gandhi- Mandela 2015 series between India and South Africa has seen the latter clearly dominate in the matches that have occurred so far. Barring a blip in the second one-dayer at Indore, the South Africans have mostly been ruthless in their approach, and have had some brilliant individual performances to back their case with. While India have had the likes of Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Akshar Patel produce a few gems in the series so far, there are some very critical points that need to be pondered over with two games remaining and the series tilting in the Proteas’ favour.

One of the primary reasons for India’s failure so far has been their middle-order woes. Its shambolic collapse saw the Indians get bowled out for a score of 92 at Cuttack, causing the spectators to throw bottles in disgust. They were the villains again when India failed to chase the target of 304 in the second ODI, despite Rohit Sharma’s century propelling them to 269 for 3 at one stage. It was another brain-freeze by the same batsmen that led to India collapsing from 193 for 2 to 216 for 6.

While most members of the middle-order have given some performance to be credited with — Ajinkya Rahane’s 60 at Kanpur, MS Dhoni’s 92 not out at Indore, it is Suresh Raina’s woeful form that should be the most worrying factor for the Indians for the remainder of the series. Raina has scored a total of 39 runs in both the Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) and the one-dayers so far, with 36 of those coming in the 20-over games. The left-handed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batsman has been dismissed for ducks in the last two games. READ: Suresh Raina needs to spend more time on the wicket, says MS Dhoni

Raina’s form this year has witnessed a steady decline. From his above-par run in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, where he managed a century and a half-century against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh respectively. Following which he managed 374 runs at an average of 25 in the Indian Premier League (2015). In the Bangladesh tour, Raina was among the top-five run-getters in the series, recording a decent average of 37.33.

The southpaw’s form in the ongoing series however, has reached an all-time low, and it is time for skipper Dhoni to stop backing his IPL team-mate and take a drastic step or two with the rest of the team management — for Raina’s welfare that is. It would be fair enough to say that India needs to retain its best players for the remaining matches, and that Raina must make way for someone more productive — say Gurkeerat Singh Mann for the remaining matches. Till then, the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 would not be a bad place for Raina to return to form with a couple of good performances, as one Ravindra Jadeja has been doing for Saurashtra in the 2015-16 edition of India’s premier domestic tournament so far.

(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)

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