Suresh Raina credits Kohli and Shastri for supporting him

The left-handed Indian batsman Suresh Raina has made his comeback to the national side after a gap of more than one year. He last played for India in January last year against England at home in a T20 International. He was dropped since then despite performing well as he failed to clear the yo-yo test which also coupled with his poor form with the bat in the domestic cricket. However, he Raina received a lot of support from the Indian head coach Ravi Shastri and the captain Virat Kohli during his troublesome days.

He worked hard on his fitness after being axed from the team and had a fruitful Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. He smashed a century during one of the matches and also backed it up with a couple of half-centuries. Meanwhile, Raina also passed the fitness test ahead of the selection of the T20I squad for the three-match series against South Africa.

Thinking about comeback

Suresh Raina was disconsolate after he was dropped from the team and has said that he was backed by his family and the coach and the skipper of the team. “When I didn’t get a chance, I was very strong mentally and got a lot of support from my family. I got a lot of support from our Head Coach Ravi Shastri alongside with captain Virat Kohli. When someone is down, but you have people like them supporting you, it feels great. I wanted to get back to winning ways and this T20I series might well be the beginning,” he told BCCI.tv.

The 31-year-old was only thinking about making a comeback to the team and was thrilled after being successful in doing so. “I am a very positive person. The wait to get back into the team made me tougher and hungrier. Each and every lap I ran during training, I was only thinking about the day I will come back and represent my country,” he added.

It remains to be seen if Raina manages to make it into the playing XI in the first T20I against South Africa which will take place in Johannesburg on Sunday.

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