There was a time when Suresh Raina was a mainstay in Indian cricket team's limited-overs setup. When BCCI announced renewal of contracts, his name was missing from the list of contracted players.
Reuters
On social media, several users questioned why Raina, who has scored 5568 runs in 223 ODIs and 1307 runs in 65 T20Is, was given the snub. Now, a report in a leading English daily claims to reveal the real reason why the board might have deemed the 30-year-old left-hander unfit for a central contract.
As per Mid-day that quoted a former Uttar Pradesh Ranji coach, Raina has become a 'reluctant cricketer' after getting married in 2015 and is apparently more focused on his family and setting up a business than ensuring his place in the Indian cricket team. He also skipped the domestic T20 and one-day tournaments and turned out in just three Ranji Trophy matches for UP this season.
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AFP
"His priorities have changed after he became a family man. I have noticed that he has not been concentrating on his game. He has become a reluctant cricketer. He just played three Ranji matches for UP this season and didn't turn out for Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare tournaments," Mid-day quoted the coach as saying on Thursday.
"With so many youngsters on the horizon, his chances of a comeback into Indian Test or ODI teams are bleak. He can still eye the T20s, but it will depend a lot on his IPL form where he will lead Gujarat Lions again," the coach said.
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PTI
Grade A (Rs 2 crore): Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay
Grade B (Rs 1 crore): Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuvraj Singh
Grade C (Rs 50 lakh): Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant
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