Twitter Reactions: Suresh Raina makes a comeback to the Indian ODI team

The Indian selectors sat down to pick the squad for the initial three matches of the five-match ODI series against the touring New Zealand team. The new panel had surprises in store bringing in more than a few unexpected names in the team. MSK Prasad & Co. rewarded those who performed for India A on the recent tour of Australia.

Among the surprising picks was that of left-hander Suresh Raina. It comes as a great respite for the southpaw who last played an ODI for India in October 2015 in the home series against South Africa. After a string of inconsistent performances he was overlooked for the all important tour to Australia in December-January.

His stay out of the team extended when the selectors didn’t consider him for the 2-match T20I series played against West Indies in Florida, the USA in August this year. Raina had shown good form while leading the India Green team in the Duleep Trophy in September. He scored 35, 90 and 52 in the three innings that he played in the tournament.

The selectors haven’t picked both the regular spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who will be playing a lot of Tests in the next one year or so. Though they have named Amit Mishra and Axar Patel in the team, Raina is a very useful off-spinner himself and skipper Dhoni loves to use him in the middle overs and he has often delivered to his expectations picking important wickets.

Also check out – Indian squad announced for the ODI series against New Zealand

He is also a brilliant fielder, which takes the overall level of fielding of the entire squad a notch up. On any given day he is a utility player and someone who can contribute in all the three departments.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Suresh Raina’s inclusion in the Indian ODI team for the first 3 matches:

https://twitter.com/rahul_dravid19/status/784020202065362944