Suresh Raina has been ruled out of the first ODI against New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 16 due to a bout of viral fever. The BCCI has not named a replacement for him in the side.
Raina’s illness had affected his participation in Uttar Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy opener against Madhya Pradesh last week. Raina was named captain of the UP side, but did not bat in both innings as the team lost by an innings and 64 runs.
Raina, who last played an ODI for India in October, 2015, had been recalled to the squad for the first three matches of the five-ODI series against New Zealand. MSK Prasad, India’s chairman of selectors, had said that Raina’s ability as a part-time spin bowler was one of the factors behind his recall as the team’s frontline spinners, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, had been rested for the matches.
Raina was left out of India’s ODI squads for the tours of Australia (December-January) and Zimbabwe, and also missed the two T20Is against West Indies in the USA. In between, he had a disappointing run in the Asia Cup and the World T20. In the Asia Cup T20s, Raina scored 39 runs in three innings, and followed that with 41 runs in four innings at the World T20. Before his exclusion from the ODI team last December, Raina had managed only one century in the format in 26 innings.
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