Raina needs to have a lot of clarity, says VVS Laxman

Indian maestro VVS Laxman has had his say on Suresh Raina after he was dropped from the one-day side of India’s tour of Australia. Laxman who was known for keeping his best for the Australians said that Raina “needs a lot of clarity” on how to fix his problem of facing the short ball.

Laxman thinks that Raina’s non-selection will act as a negative motivation for the player and will boost him to work harder. Laxman said, “I think every batsman has an area of concern and Suresh Raina has been struggling with short-pitched delivery for a long time. But I think, it is more about what his gameplan against short ball will be and hopefully he sticks to it.”

It’s rightly said by the Indian legend that, “no batsman is perfect” and it is not Raina alone who has a technical issue with his batting.

“We have seen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have problems for the balls outside the off-stump and (Cheteshwar) Pujara has problems with the ball that comes in. Everyone has own issues as no batsman is perfect. So Raina needs to have lot of clarity while facing the short ball.”

According to Laxman, Raina is a match winner and can turn around any game, given his style of play. The Hyderabadi, Laxman was all set to praise the batsmen’s ability and talent.

He added in an interaction with Star Sports, “But having said that I believe that Raina is an impact player and a match winner in the shorter format. He is livewire in the field, can play big shots and bowl useful overs. He still has a lot to offer in ODI and T20.”

VVS provided an in-depth analysis of Raina’s problem. He said that the problem Raina has is a common one down under and many batsmen fall in that trap. According to him, Raina always thinks of the short ball in his head and is thus not prepared for the fuller one.

Laxman analysed, “If you see the way, the position (initial trigger movement) he was getting in, definitely, he is thinking about the short ball. Only in the Chennai ODI against South Africa, he played thinking of fuller delivery. He tried playing down the ground, hit those cover drives. His thought process was very clear and once he does that, no one can stop him.”

VVS then told about how he prepared for the tour down under. He delivered his experience and told, “Before going there for the 1999 tour (he scored 167 at SCG), I saw the Pakistan series on TV and felt the bounce was steep. So I decided to practise on concrete wickets with plastic balls.”

The scenario has now changed in Australia as Laxman states. According to him, a batsman cannot offer full face of the bat anymore as all it would do is get the ball of edges towards the slip.

“Now in Australia, you cannot offer a straight full face of the bat, it has to come down with an angle. If the bat comes down straight, it will fly towards slip or gully. Also, the general mistake that a young batsman tends to make is that he will get out to the back of the length delivery. But then, it is the fuller delivery which gets the batsman out.”

Laxman expresses happiness with selection of young players

Raina’s non-inclusion in the ODI team means that Manish Pandey and Gurkeerat Singh get the chance to showcase their talents. Both the batsmen have performed well in the domestic season and Laxman praised both the youngsters, “Both have had success in domestic cricket. Gurkeerat was very impressive during that ‘A tri-series final’ against Australia in Chennai. He also deserves a chance.” Laxman said about the youngsters.

He concluded by saying, “India has got an excellent chance. They (Australia) look a very unsettled side after the retirement of Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Starc is injured. If India play to their potential, they will beat Australia.”

With VVS Laxman, the greatest player of his time in all support for the Indian side, it will be an exciting tour ahead of us very soon. With Yuvi and Bhajji back and youngsters like Manish Pandey and Brainder Sran given the chance, this tour is going to be crucial for the national ahead of the T20 World Cup.