Tarish Bhatt
India’s Suresh Raina is indeed a big match player. Against Zimbabwe, it’s was exactly a big match. The challenges were big. In fact, it was supposed to be an easy game for India after winning five match of the World Cup in a row. But India’s top-order made the 288-run chase a difficult one by losing four early wickets within 23 overs.
Initially, Raina was fortunate to have got a life after his scoring his fifty, but from there, he was simply unstoppable and scored his fifth ODI hundred. If the Indian captain MS Dhoni had said that “Raina is the best we have got at No. 5”, he isn’t wrong in his assessment. Yuvraj Singh had played similar role in the last edition of the World Cup in the sub-continent and Raina always admired and wanted to replicate a Yuvraj in a World Cup. So far, he has done it well.
But what everyone really saw of Raina at the Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday was nothing but remarkable. In between the wickets, he ran hard with Dhoni and forced the Zimbabwe fielders to sweat on the field. The Uttar Pradesh left-hander had played a similar role in the opening match of the World Cup against Pakistan last month. He came ahead of Ajinkya Rahane and dominated the Pakistani attack from the word go.
India were batting first in that Pakistan game and so the pressure was comparatively less than the match he played against Zimbabwe. It would an understatement to say that India were in a spot of bother when they lost four wickets early. The match was almost over for India when Raina started building his Indian innings – brick by brick – with Dhoni.
Raina had to stay at the crease and, at the same time, keep the scoreboard ticking. Dhoni’s presence in the middle also helped him immensely. There were a few occasions when Raina and Dhoni had a bit of misunderstanding while running between the wickets. But both the middle-order kept talking to themselves to strengthen their bonding. With the mounting asking rate, Raina did take some time to get set at the crease, but didn’t spare those loose deliveries in between. A few of his drives that pieced through the fielders were a threat to watch.
Dhoni was equally brutal. The Indian captain allowed Raina to do all the hitting and didn’t spare any loose deliveries. In fact, the pair not only shared an unbeaten 196-run stand for the fifth wicket, but also ensured India remained unbeaten in the league stage of the World Cup. A loss at the hands of the Zimbabwean would have made any difference on the overall standing of the team. But it would have certainly damaged a few brain cells of some of the players. Fortunately, nothing of that sort happened.
Raina, after his maiden World Cup century, has collected 212 runs from four innings with an average of 70.66. Dhoni has a notable average of 83. From here on, what India needs is some rest before they take on Bangladesh in the quarterfinals and then train their eyes on the big dream. Clearly from here, whosoever comes close to India, they would have to go past Raina and Dhoni to snatch the World Cup!
