Out of favour Indian batsman Suresh Raina might have felt that he deserved a comeback opportunity in the Indian national team but former chairman of the senior national selection committee MSK Prasad made it pretty clear that it was poor form during the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season that was the reason he was not considered for a place in the team.
The 33-year-old played 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is for India and even represented the Indian team in 18 Test matches. He last donned the Indian colours in July 2018 after which he has been dropped and hasn’t been in the scheme of things since then.
Raina underwent knee surgery in the Netherlands last year and was looking to make a comeback to competitive cricket with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“See VVS Laxman, when he was dropped from the Indian Test squad in 1999, he forced himself back by scoring over 1400 runs in domestic cricket. This is what is expected from senior players when they are dropped,” Prasad told PTI.
Notably, Raina scored 243 runs with two fifties in five Ranji games in the 2018-19 season. An IPL veteran, the southpaw managed to score 383 runs in 17 games for CSK in 2019 which simply not good enough to seal a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t see that form here in Raina’s case in domestic cricket while other youngsters emerged at the big stage with their brilliant performances in domestic cricket and India A,” Prasad said.
Earlier, Raina had said in an interview with Sports Tak that selectors should have taken “more responsibility” towards the senior player.
“I think selectors should have taken more responsibility towards the senior players. Tell me, if I have any deficiency then I will work hard. When the cause is not known, how he will improve,” Raina was quoted as saying.
However, Prasad said that he is surprised that Raina made such a comment.
“It is so sad to hear from him that selectors don’t watch Ranji games. Please check the records with BCCI that how many matches were watched by senior selection committee members in the last four years.”
“I had personally spoken to Raina calling him to my room and explained him the roadmap for his future comebacks. He had, back then, appreciated my efforts. I am really surprised when I have heard things which are exactly contrary to what had happened.”
“I gave postings to my selectors looking at those matches where the consistent players, fringe players, probables or comeback players are playing.
“Personally, I watched four UP games in Lucknow and Kanpur in the last four years apart from the other many UP matches my colleagues have seen.
“I take pride in saying that our selection committee has watched more than 200 Ranji matches in the last four years.”
“When a senior player is dropped from the squad, we expect him to go back to domestic cricket and get his form back,” he said.
“If you look at the great Mohinder Amarnath, check how many times he was dropped and made a strong comeback with stellar performances in domestic cricket,” he concluded.