Suresh Raina back in Indian cricket team for T20 series against South Africa
Suresh Raina returns to the Indian T20 cricket team after almost a year. The Uttar Pradesh batsman has been playing a lot of domestic cricket
Suresh Raina has found a place in the 16-man Indian cricket team named for the three-match T20 series against South Africa. The T20s follow the six-match ODIs starting in Durban on February 1. (IPL AUCTION LIVE)
Raina last played a T20 for India in Bangalore on February 1, 2017. He scored a 57-ball 63 against an England attack fronted by Tymal Mills, Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes. India won the match by 75 runs.
Suresh Raina has been playing a lot of domestic cricket. He scored an unbeaten 126 against Bengal in a Mushtaq Ali T20 match in Kolkata on January 22 and followed up with two fifties (61 and 56) against Tamil Nadu and Baroda.
It is clear that the national selectors rewarded Raina for his domestic scores. The left-handed attacking batsman will play for Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier league 2018. Raina has played 65 T20 internationals, scoring 1,307 runs and taking 12 wickets at an average of 32.91.
India will be out for redemption in the white-ball contests after losing the Test series 2-1, although the battling nature of their victory in the third and final game suggests Virat Kohli’s side are up for the challenge.
After six ODIs, the Proteas will host India in three T20s, starting at Johannesburg - the scene of India’s Test win - on February 18 before fixtures in Centurion and Cape Town.
In all, there are six players in the India squad who did not play T20s against Sri Lanka, with Raina earning a recall for the first time in a year.
India’s squad for T20I series: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur.