Suresh Raina back in the Indian squad for the T20I series in South Africa

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced the Indian squad for the T20 International series in South Africa. The Men in Blue will play three T20Is against the Proteas after the 6-match ODI series. Among the regulars who’ve featured in the shortest format, one much-anticipated name is back on the squad sheet. Suresh Raina has been picked in the team for the series.

The southpaw last played in the India colours in a T20I against England on February 1, 2017. He was initially ousted from the team when he failed to clear the yo-yo fitness test a basic parameter for selection. Raina worked really hard on his fitness and managed to clear the test recently at the NCA with par score. Following which he also put up a brilliant batting display in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

He scored a century and two fifties all in consecutive knocks while leading his state side Uttar Pradesh in the domestic T20 tournament. Raina looks fit and was at his very best with the bat, the shots were flowing beautifully off his bat and that was enough for the selectors to bring him back in the squad.

The 16-man squad has only one change as Shreyas Iyer who played against Sri Lanka in the previous series has been dropped. He took the No.3 spot in skipper Virat Kohli‘s absence and scored 24, 0 and 30 in the three matches. In the recently concluded SMA Trophy, he batted twice for Mumbai and scored an unbeaten 79 in the last outing.

Iyer in his short career has looked really uncomfortable playing the moving ball along with being a predominantly on-side player. It looks likely that tentativeness and Raina’s form triggered the only change in the squad.

Among others, the limited-overs specialists MS Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur will join the rest of the Indian team that is already in South Africa for the Test series.

India T20I squad for the South Africa tour:

Virat Kohli (Captain) Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur