Raina sweats in the nets before he’s ruled out

New Delhi, Suresh Raina has been ruled out of the second One-dayer between India and New Zealand as well. After missing the first ODI in Dharamsala due to viral fever, the experienced batsman was expected to return for the Delhi ODI on October 20. The BCCI medical team, however, decided against rushing him into the thick action after assessing his situation.
Raina had already joined the team and even attended what was an optional training session for the team at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium today. The others who showed up at the nets included skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni and Jayant Yadav. The left-hander looked comfortable while facing throw-downs from chief coach Anil Kumble and batting coach Sanjay Bangar, and showed no signs of fatigue while bowling his off-breaks to Dhoni. He even participated in a catching session during the fielding drills.
Raina, while batting in the nets, was particularly severe on the off-spinners of Kedar Jadhav, his replacement in the playing XI. Had he been declared fit, it would have been a toss-up between him and Jadhav for a spot in the playing XI. Jadhav, who picked two wickets in successive deliveries in the first ODI, is expected to retain his place.
Besides his down-the-order batting and his occasional off-spin, the team will miss Raina’s athleticism and fielding on the field. His presence would have further bolstered India’s fielding, which came in for rich praise from fielding coach R Sridhar on Monday.
Multi-specialist fielders
Sounding happy with India’s fielding standards, Sridhar said the team management, in view of the long home season, was focusing on identifying more “multi-specialist” fielders.
“The likes of Rahane, Rohit, Raina and Virat are more than utility fielders. In ODIs, one needs to suffocate the flow of runs and make the batsmen work hard to score. That’s what Virat, Ajinkya do, even Axar, when (Ravindra) Jadeja is not there,” Sridhar said.
“Once we get into the death overs, these guys get into the deep as they have a safe pair of hands and strong arms to fire in a throw. We are trying to develop multi-specialist fielders rather than specialist fielders. That’s what Virat, Dhoni and Anil want. Team benefits in different phases of the game from their fielding effort,” he added.
Sridhar reserved special praise for speedster Umesh Yadav, who took a sensational catch diving to his right at mid-off to dismiss Corey Anderson in the first ODI. Sridhar said Umesh’s brilliant fielding effort has “created a new benchmark” for the seamers. “It’s good to have fast bowlers in the side who are good athletes too. Umesh has a very good arm and similarly (Mohammed) Shami is also a good athlete. Umesh is exceptional both in ground fielding and catching, he has created a new benchmark for fast bowlers in terms of fielding.”