Raina pulls up short

The question is, why? Why can’t Raina avoid playing the hook or pull? Even without those two shots, he has a wide array of strokes to rotate the strike or force the pace. Considering his limitations with the shot, and that there are two bouncers allowed per over, Raina must be more discreet in his shot selection. He has scored 39, 17, 16, 28, 0, 23, 34, 14, 36 and 18 in his last ten ODI innings and more than once, has holed out playing a hook or pull.

There’s no shame in not having the hook shot or pull in your repertoire. Even the greats can’t master every shot in the book. Steve Waugh was never a great hooker or puller, but adjusted and made the bowlers bowl to his strength. Sourav Ganguly, with 11,363 ODI runs, did the same. Mohinder Amarnath struggled to handle pace during the first phase of his Test career. The same man was a revelation against Imran Khan and the Caribbean pace aces later on, working to improve his technique and having the courage to take body blows.

During India’s 2011 tour of West Indies, Rahul Dravid had a little piece of advice for Raina, ‘duck under the short ball, leave it alone’. India A team coach Lalchand Rajput agrees. “You can do two things — avoid playing the shot or work harder in the nets to perfect it. The first option is easier.”

Raina has become a compulsive hooker and puller but he doesn’t have the backfoot game to play the shots correctly. Raina must remember that competition for slots in Indian cricket is too fierce to allow him a big leeway.

Shamik is a principle correspondent based in Kolkata
shamik.chakrabarty@expressindia.com