Suresh Raina - "The Fall of the Giant"

"The Fall" Of Suresh Raina!


Suresh Raina, the left-handed middle-order Indian batsman, and a part-time bowler has played 226 ODIs and scored 5615 runs at an average of 35.31, from 2005-present, and 78 T20I's scoring 1604 runs at an average of 29.16, from 2006-present.

He also played a crucial role for India in the 2015 Cricket World Cup by scoring 284 runs in 8 matches at an average of 56.80 and a strike rate of 110.07, including one century and 2 half-centuries.

However, we couldn't see him in action for a long time as he was dropped due to poor form in 2015 after a series against South Africa, where he scored 3, 0, 0, 53, and 12 in 5 matches.

Why he couldn't make a comeback?

There were a lot of reasons as to why he couldn't come back since the particular loss in form. But here are his Ranji trophy stats from Season 2015-16 to 2018-2019. 

He decided not to play in season 2019-2020.

Suresh Raina's Ranji records: (Since 2015-16)



Suresh Raina scored a total of 760 runs in 24 innings at an average of 31.

With the number of youngsters performing, Raina really needed to excel at the domestic level to have any shot at an International comeback. 

Unfortunately, his poor run in the Ranji Trophy coincided with Players like Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, and Karun Nair making huge impacts in the Ranji Trophy for their teams.

It's a pretty common notion that a comeback is always harder than a debut, you don't have much to lose on debut and you have everything to gain. But at a comeback, you have everything to lose due to a poor run.

"His priorities have changed after he became a family man. I have noticed that he has not been concentrating on his game. He has become a reluctant cricketer. He just played three Ranji matches for UP this season and didn't turn out for Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare tournaments"
said UP's coach in an interview.

We all know IPL performances also have a crucial impact during selection, so let's go through Raina's IPL stats from 2015!

Suresh Raina in the IPL since 2015:



Raina scored 757 runs in 21 innings at an average of 44.5 and a strike rate of 153.2 in 2014,

The statistics from the above table paint a picture themselves and we realize that his average dropped by 19.6, and the strike rate dropped by 32.6, showing that he was out of form for 2 consecutive years.

Although he performed well in IPL 2017 and 2018, he made a comeback in February 2018 in T20I against SA, where he scored 88 runs in 3 innings.

Then he was also selected on a tour against England in July 2018, where he scored 27(20) in one T20I and 46(63), 1(4) in 2 ODIs, he was dropped after the and never made a comeback since then.


CAN RAINA MAKE A COMEBACK AGAIN?


It's difficult to say, as selectors are giving chances to youngsters.

It was always going to be tough for a 33-year-old player who's struggling with form to make a comeback. 

Although the probabilities of him making a comeback are very low. If he manages to perform once again at the Domestic level and in the IPL. He just may get another opportunity to represent his country in the blues. 

His form will also have to coincide with a dip in form for many others to have a real shot at a comeback.

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