His name might be missing from the Test squad courtesy his inconsistent form in the longer format. But Suresh Raina will be one of the key men in India's ODI setup when they take on hosts Australia and frequent rivals Sri Lanka in the Commonwealth Bank Series,which starts in February. Here Raina tells The Indian Express about his preparation for the upcoming tour. Excerpts. How have you been preparing for the ODIs in Australia? I've been working really hard on my wrist-play. The Australian pitches will have a lot of bounce and I think my preparation will be essential in tackling it. Hopefully it will translate in me scoring runs there. A lot has changed since your last visit Down Under with the Indian team in 2007. How has your role in the ODI setup changed in the interim? I didn't play a single game last time when we won the CB series but I still have plenty of memories from then. I have played a few games for India A in Australia. I have improved as a cricketer over the last three years. There is a lot more responsibility on my shoulders and I am very aware of my exact role in the team. I am mentally stronger too. Do you think the Test slump will have an impact on the world champions' performance in the ODIs? I don't think so. If you look at this ODI team,there are a number of young players. It's a fresh series,and we will be walking in as world champions. We have to show the Aussies what we are made of. We are all obviously disappointed with what transpired during the Test series. Did you expect this kind of a debacle on the back of the disastrous tour to England? Not really. We went early to Australia to get acclimatized but our batting hasn't clicked. If we can dominate the last Test match (in Adelaide) then that will set the tone for us leading up to the ODIs. Does it hurt that you are still to cement your Test spot despite having been a regular in the ODI team? I had a good West Indies series but things didn't go well in England. I didn't do that bad in Test cricket,if you ask me. I'm working really hard in regaining my place now. I have played a few domestic games. Does being a stroke-maker kind of put you in a quandary when it comes to playing Test cricket?Are you forced to kind of inhibit your stroke-play? Not really. If you look at the way David Warner batted in Perth,he made it look like it was a T20 match. It's all in the mind I think. It is a challenge indeed for any batsman on how he controls the match situation,regardless of whether it is a Test or a T20 contest. Would you like to bat up the order considering you have been batting at number five and six for a while now? Definitely,batting at No. 6 or 7 is always challenging. I and MS Dhoni have a job to bat through the innings. We mainly walk into pressure situations and are expected to play the finisher's role. Scores of 30 and 40 might not seem significant when compared to half-centuries or 100s but they can be very important in the context of the match. Do you think MS Dhoni is under too much pressure? You can't criticise his captaincy by judging one or two series. We have a number of match-winners in the side but unfortunately things haven't clicked in Australia. You don't need to worry about MS,he will definitely come back stronger.
