Former chairman of Indian selectors, MSK Prasad, recently said that it was poor form during the 2018-19 domestic season that became the undoing of veteran batsman Suresh Raina.
Raina, who has appeared in 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is apart from 18 Tests, last played for India in July 2018 on England tour after which he was dropped for good.
Last year, he had a knee surgery in The Netherlands and was eyeing a comeback with his favourite team Chennai Super Kings in the currently postponed Indian Premier League. “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.
Prasad also said that he had spoken and explained Raina the roadmap for his comeback.
“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,” Prasad had said.
However, Raina, in an Instagram live session with his former India teammate Irfan Pathan on Saturday, opened up about his chat with Prasad. “MSK Prasad said that I under-performed and also stated that he spoke to me about my axing, but he didn’t speak to me at all. When my time comes, I will play.”
Raina also pointed out that many players, including himself, should get a chance to bounce back into the Indian team. Both Raina and Pathan want that the ‘out-of-favour’ players should be allowed to get an opportunity to play in foreign leagues so that they can perform there and pave their way back into the national side.
“There are many quality players like me, Yusuf and Uthappa; such players should get a chance from the BCCI to play overseas leagues, where they can perform well and make their India comeback. All the overseas players get many chances to play all T20 leagues and get into their respective national teams. Such a mindset should come in Indian cricket,” added Raina during the chat.
