Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina might not have had a brilliant start to the year as a batsman for India but this was the IPL. This was supposed to be his kingdom, where he has scored more runs than anyone else and has established himself as one of the most consistent performers for his franchise and arguably one of the finest in the history of the tournament itself.
And with a new franchise this season and him being the leader of the side as well, even greater things were expected of him. Yet he has struggled to get going in this year's tournament. He has only one fifty to his name and averages a meagre 26 and has a strike rate under 130. Although he has nearly 300 runs to his name, nearly one-fourth of those runs came in a single innings.
The problem with him this season has been his inability to convert starts into big scores, something he was renowned for, throughout the IPL. He has only one single-digit score but has five scores in the twenties. And his shuffling across the stumps and jumping for every ball that is even short of a good length has been his downfall as the short ball problem has continued to linger and haunt him.
With the Lions well placed to qualify for the play-offs, they will be hoping that he fires in the latter stages, if they are to have a good chance of winning their maiden title.
