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The curious case of Suresh Raina

I'm a big fan of Suresh Raina. He's almost unique amongst Indian cricketers in that he's always energetic, keen to be involved (whether with bat, ball or on the field) and genuinely smiles often. That plus the fact that he's struggled to make it in Test cricket despite obvious ability makes me almost think of him as a modern version of Ajay Jadeja. Its hard to think that even as recently as the group stages of the World Cup, he was left out of India's one-day side in favour of Yusuf Pathan.

However, it is true that in the last two years or so, his ODI batting performances have started to look a bit anaemic and he does not play the match-turning innings quite so often. Granted that he comes in at #6 or #7 most often and that's a tough role to play but of particular worry is the fact that his average in away and neutral games is much poorer than his record in India. Given that the next World Cup is in the Antipodes and Raina will be expected to be a senior player by then (possibly the vice-captain?), India will need a confident, dominant Raina. Will he show up again? Especially away from home conditions?

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