IPL 2016: 5 Indian players who have to do well this season to retain their place in the national side

#3 Suresh Raina

Raina hasn’t played an impactful knock in the blue jersey in a really long while. He scored 41 runs in 4 innings at 10.25 in the World Cup. He doesn’t offer security either, generally all over the place against the short ball or the moving ball or any ball that has some life and spite in it. His reputation as a flat track bully is not helping. To make matters worse, his CSK mojo isn’t going to help him as the team itself has been disbanded.

Instead of the calm presence of MS Dhoni to help him out, Raina is in the thick of things as the skipper of the Gujarat Lions. Time is running out for Raina and he has taken aeons to work on that prolonged weakness against the rising ball that has been his undoing. It erodes his confidence on the crease and slaps his usual flamboyance on the front foot with an unassured approach evident in the last few months. One wonders if Raina will benefit from the captaincy stint in the IPL or if it will be his undoing!