Suresh Raina to miss 2nd ODI against New Zealand

The Indian team hit all the right notes against the touring New Zealanders in the 1st ODI of the series at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala and beat the visitors comprehensively by 6 wickets. Their all-rounders played a key role in the victory but one man who was expected to revamp his ODI career with the series Suresh Raina missed out since he was down with viral fever.

Ahead of the 2nd ODI to be played on 20th October at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stated that Suresh Raina will not be available for the Delhi ODI as well since he is still recovering from a viral fever. Another notable aspect is that the Board hasn’t announced a replacement yet which still keeps him in the bid for a spot in the third ODI if he gets fit in time.

The selectors had picked the team of young, inexperienced players for the first three matches of the five-match series. It was to give them an opportunity to showcase their talent and make a case for future consideration as well, but if things went wrong they could fall back to the original, full strength squad to make sure the series didn’t run out of hands.

In absence of Raina, seam bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya made his debut and impressed one and all with his new ball bowling and also bagged the Man of the Match award for his three-wicket haul. Skipper MS Dhoni loves his slow bowlers and opted to give Maharashtra batsman Kedar Jadhav who also bowls off-spin like the UP left-hander a few overs in the middle phase of the game. Jadhav found immediate success and removed two Kiwi batsmen on successive deliveries.

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Keeping Dhoni’s ideology in mind, in all likelihood, the Indian team will field the same combination that won the opening game in the next match as well and will look to give others an opportunity to play only after the series is secured.

News Alert – @ImRaina to miss Delhi ODI, requires more time to recover @Paytm ODI Trophy #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/ZndUYpnbCz

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 18, 2016