Suresh Raina clears Yo-Yo Test ahead of India’s tour to South Africa

Scoring bulk of runs, taking bagful of wickets and being at your acrobatic best. Are these parameters enough to make it to the Indian side? No. The Yo-Yo Test is a mandatory demon to be conquered. Earlier this year, there were several reports of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh failing the Yo-Yo test. Raina was asked in October about his failure to clear the endurance test to which he shot back, “You (the reporters) speak to BCCI.”

Anyway all that is past. Raina, on his bid to make a national comeback, cleared the much hyped Yo-Yo Test at the National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru on Tuesday. He posted the same on his Instagram and also praised the academy.

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“Cleared my Yo-Yo & fitness test today, after days of hard work at #NCA! ‪Received tremendous support from all the trainers, coaches & officials. ‪Thank you all! ‪It’s always so encouraging to train here at #NCA, motivates me to push my limits and bring the best out of me,” Raina wrote.

Cleared my Yo-Yo & fitness test today, after days of hard work at #NCA! ‪Received tremendous support from all the trainers, coaches & officials.‬ ‪Thank you all!‬ ‪It’s always so encouraging to train here at #NCA, motivates me to push my limits and bring the best out of me.

A post shared by Suresh Raina (@sureshraina3) on Dec 20, 2017 at 8:24pm PST

Raina is regarded as one of the finest cricketers to have played limited-overs for India. India’s tour to South Africa starts January 5. The selectors are yet to name the squads for ODIs and T20Is.

Author’s take

India have a pool of talented players who are being groomed for the 2019 World Cup. Raina does not seem to feature in the selector’s plans. He was poor in this Ranji Trophy season. Playing for Uttar Pradesh, the southpaw has scored just 105 runs at 11.66. The time is running out for the 31-year-old.

There are slots available in the Indian middle-order and the side have tried out the likes of Kedar Jadhav, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey. Considering the fact, Yuvraj Singh was recalled earlier this year, the doors may still sneak open for Raina. But for that, he will have to be exceptional in the limited-overs leg of Indian domestic cricket.