Raina named new Indian captain ...

[Ankur]

Suresh Raina, who was dropped for India's last ODI assignment - the Asia Cup - will lead India in the three-ODI series in Bangladesh in the absence of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli among others. Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Shami Ahmed were rested too. Robin Uthappa earned an expected national comeback, Wriddhiman Saha was called up to replace Dhoni as the wicketkeeper, and quite a few performers in the IPL got selected.

Squad for Bangladesh ODIs Suresh Raina (capt.), Robin Uthappa, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Amit Mishra

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/conte ... 48291.html

[GpeL]

Well among the lot there is NONE else to give a consideration.. all the others are just novices except Uttappa but he is a screwball.

[SuperGLS]

Raina better lead them to three wins or it'll be the end of him.

[Ankur]

Raina better lead them to three wins or it'll be the end of him.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ew=results

[SuperGLS]

Exactly. He's not been good in the past and now there are a bunch of guys threatening to get into the team.

[Going South]

What if he fails? Would they kick Raina off the team?

[Ankur]

3 games vs Bangladesh

[Leo]

Golden chance for Raina as everyone knows the result.

[squarecut]

This team seriously looks like a bunch of losers. Except Raina others have hardly, if ever,played for BCCI. It is BCCI D team. I dread that the series against BD is gone.

[raja]

This team seriously looks like a bunch of losers. Except Raina others have hardly, if ever,played for BCCI. It is BCCI D team. I dread that the series against BD is gone.

Come on, Atul, you don't have to jinx against Bangladesh!!!

But I guess Bangladesh for you is like England for me.

I don't take any chances.

[squarecut]

I am quite serious ! In the past, BCCI got complacent and played B teams against BD and paid for their complacency. This time they are fielding players who never had the feel of being BCCI players. No matter what their domestic credentials, they will all be novices when they take on the field in the ODIs. For the first time in memory, BD players will boast of a more experienced ODI side than a BCCI ODI side.

[GpeL]

Ok let us dissect the team a bit.. what have we here...

Suresh Raina (capt.) Well he is a reasonable capt but in a kind of form that is like the weather during a squal.. now you cannot say what his output will be even if the input is the same.. No logic or reason accompanies his batting. Capt is inspired by dhoni but even if he is ok, he tries to be a smarty pants and screws up.

Robin Uthappa in reasonable form provided he is not under the influence of PMS.
Ajinkya Rahane untested but going by his dom record, some reasonable hope can be put on him
Cheteshwar Pujara Honestly has surprised me and coming from lungi land that is no mean compliment
Ambati Rayudu same as pujara except is a seasonal rain. If you do not feed him his favorite chicken chettinad for lunch anything can happen
Manoj Tiwary he is a short fuse but a good talent.. Untested so cannot be bet on but worth a consider.
Kedar Jadhav I love anyone with the name kedar. (don't ask me why it is a personal secret)
Wriddhiman Saha (wk) Has done reasonably good both domestically and in IPL could have never gotten a chance had dhoni lingered around
Parvez Rasool not much of a player but I suppose the BCCI blokes either saw something in him or a ton of money around him
Akshar Patel This dude has been in talks for a while and I wanted to see him in international for a while now. I am not going to use IPL as any guage for this fukker
R Vinay Kumar when it comes to pie chucking.. no one beats him a champion.
Umesh Yadav a serious competetor to Vinay kumar
Stuart Binny a serioius competetor to Umesh Yadav
Mohit Sharma trying to be a serious competetor to Binny inspired by Umesh Yadav
Amit Mishra a wannabe and more importantly a cantbe..

[Ankur]

Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh captain, has said he didn't expect such a weakened Indian side for the upcoming three-match ODI series. The visitors announced a 15-man squad without eight of their regulars - captain MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are among those not making this trip.

Mushfiqur said he was not upset at the quality of his opposition but felt that, by playing better cricket, his side can deliver a message to the powers that be. Despite the make-up of the squad, they will not be playing for "India A" but for India, he said.

The team will be led by Suresh Raina, who was not part of India's last ODI assignment, and only four members of this squad -- Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny and Wriddhiman Saha -- will be flying to England to join the Test team.

"I didn't expect them to take this series so lightly," Mushfiqur told reporters in Mirpur. "We have a chance to give a reply on the field. There is extra motivation. They haven't invited us yet so if we do well in this series, it sends a message.

"We have defeated their best team in the past. They have a young team, and despite the standard of the IPL, international cricket is a more difficult stage. And one should not forget that if they lose, India will lose, not India A. The pressure will be on them. I know most of them, and have seen them play. Even though I haven't played against them, I have some idea. Shakib [Al Hasan] has played against all of them, so we will pick his brain. In this day and age, it is hard not to have knowledge on a player."

Mushfiqur however warned that his team will be under a little more pressure because of the heightened expectations now that India are not sending their big guns. He wants the Bangladesh players to improve on what they had done in the last few months when they had a string of losses since the Sri Lanka series in January, right up to the World T20.

"After seeing their team, I realised that there will more expectations on us. But usually there is more pressure when we play against India, even when they had Dhoni.

"Everyone wants us to beat them, so pressure was always there. We have to focus on what we are doing, since we have struggled in the last few months. If we can play to our potential, it is not impossible to beat their team," he said.

The three-match series was part of the 2012-2020 FTP, but still the BCB had to sign a Members' Participation Agreement (MPA) with BCCI last February to secure four series against India, including the one next month.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh- ... 48675.html

[raja]

I think this is a good move.

It will give many of these guys a chance to be called an international player.

Plus, it means they move into a different league for IPL valuation, right? Or is that rule about international players commanding a higher pricetag than domestic ones scrapped now?

[finger_power]

Raina is one of the most underappreciated ODI players. He was instrumental in India winning QF and Semi final of 2011 world cup. Besides Gambhir, he was the man of knock outs for India.

His record speaks for itself: 35 avg at 91 SR. He often needs to bat in thankless situations, which can hurt his average.

He is a terrific fielder and sometimes useful bowler.

[SuperGLS]

FP and I agree on something! Put it on the calendar.

It's not his fault he always gets put in charge of these teams full of new players. Give him the same team Dhoni gets and I'm sure the results would be a lot better than these Indian XIs he gets.

[GpeL]

If super agrees then it automatically means that for sanity to prevail, I HAVE to disagree whether I like it or not

See the problem with raina is he has his thumb firmly lodged in his own ass and has the attitude of an windsock.. so that is where I do not appreciate him. He is a bin pendi kaa lota as they would say in hindi.. a drifter of thoughts and so even if a captain material at best an above average one. To put it more kindly, he is a little bigger than a storm in a teacup.

His cricketing skills are excellent only he has to put his mind and he does it as he has shown before and FP pointed out. He is underappreciated because HE HIMSELF underappreciates his skills and that on purpose.

Gambo on the other hand is like aruna irani of the yesteryears.. been there done that but nothing worth a mention.. He is always on and thereabouts and that is about it..

[Asim]

Raina is one of the most underappreciated ODI players. He was instrumental in India winning QF and Semi final of 2011 world cup. Besides Gambhir, he was the man of knock outs for India.

His record speaks for itself: 35 avg at 91 SR. He often needs to bat in thankless situations, which can hurt his average.

He is a terrific fielder and sometimes useful bowler.

+1 And does well under pressure too.

[Going South]

Raina is way too inconsistent. He is not a finisher in the longer version of game a typical close eye whack job