Nine years since he stepped down as captain, and six years after he announced his retirement from international cricket, MS Dhoni’s reign over Indian cricket remains oh so cherished.
What did India not achieve? T20 World Cup, check. Champions Trophy, check. Becoming the No. 1 Test team for the first time. Check. Winning the 50-over World Cup after 28 years. Check. India have yet to win it since 2011.
The Dhoni era had it all. It oversaw a generational shift, where even larger-than-life superstars weren’t spared, and the new guard was welcomed with open arms. It was under Dhoni that Indian cricket saw Virat Kohli emerge, while Rohit Sharma transformed his career as an opener. Yuvraj Singh was at his ruthless best between 2007 and 2011. Suresh Raina played those impactful innings from No. 7 and won India games. Shikhar Dhawan registered the highest score by an Indian opener on Test debut.
However, when the time came for Dhoni to step aside for Kohli, it marked an interesting phase in Indian cricket. Gone were the days of ‘manageable’ performances. Kohli had a vision for his team with a World Cup looming, and rightfully so. The Yo-Yo tests were introduced. There was no room for laggards. And, much like during Dhoni’s time, certain individuals were shown the door once Kohli took over as captain. Non-performers, irrespective of how good they had been, gradually exited the scene. Several players who were part of the set-up at the beginning of 2017 were no longer around by the time the 2019 World Cup in England came knocking. Raina was one of them.
The Indian team wore a whole new look by then. KL Rahul was your solid middle-order option, while all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya had established themselves. The No. 4 spot remained a bit of a quandary, but Ambati Rayudu and then Vijay Shankar seemed to be the way ahead. Raina, despite all his achievements before that, was done. In a recent interview with Aakash Chopra, the former India batter revealed how his career came to an end – he retired at just 33, hours after Dhoni dropped his R bomb on August 15, 2020 – after realising he was not part of India’s plans following conversations with Kohli and former coaches Anil Kumble and Ravi Shastri.
How it all fell apart for Raina
“See, every captain has his own team. He obviously feels someone else is better. Yuvraj Singh and I failed the Yo-Yo test, but we cleared it. We played a lot of domestic too. Scored a lot of runs. I did speak to Anil bhai (then the coach), and he told me there were certain things I needed to do. I was named Player of the Tournament in South Africa in T20Is. But in the 2019 World Cup, a different batter was preferred for England. A different keeper went there too. Back then, I felt that I could have done better,” said Raina.
“Players expect respect. The communication could have been better, such as what are the selectors thinking? What message is being given to them by them? But that’s not in our control. I asked plenty of questions, but didn’t get any answers. I spoke to both the captain and the coaches. But they did what they felt was right.”
Indeed, Raina was in the form of his life until the 2015 World Cup, but once that was over, his numbers fell off the charts, and his vulnerability against quality short-pitched bowling on lightning pitches had done him in. Frequent injuries didn’t help either. From 2016, he featured in just three ODIs for India, and while his T20I appearances numbered 32, Raina could only score 622 runs from 22 innings at an average of 25, a strike-rate of 135, and two half-centuries. Contrary to Raina’s claim that he won the Player of the Tournament, the honour never belonged to him; it went to Bhuvneshwar Kumar for his seven-wicket haul. Raina did, however, bag the Player of the Match award in the third T20I for scoring 43 off 27 balls and picking up 1/27. And the T20Is and ODIs in England a few months later were the last he ever played for India.
Raina’s domestic numbers improved but…
Raina claimed that he returned to domestic cricket, where he scored plenty of runs. But his numbers depict a slightly different picture. In 2017, he managed just 243 runs in 13 innings across the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy, averaging 18.69 with only one half-century. Although 2018 marked an improvement, Raina scored 769 runs in 24 innings across the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Deodhar Trophy and Ranji Trophy, averaging 36.62, with a century and seven fifties. The VHT produced Raina’s best show, where he scored 208 runs in six innings at an average of 41.60, including three fifties.
But for a player vying for a place in the Indian team, these were not enough. Raina’s time, while it lasted, witnessed several highs. He came into the set-up during the turbulent Rahul Dravid-Greg Chappell era and established himself as India’s middle-order rock. He was the first Indian batter to smash 100s in all three formats, played a pivotal role in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph and set tremendous fielding standards. However, with the team moving in a different direction and several promising youngsters emerging, Raina’s career, which at one stage promised so much more, was cut short.