JUST IN: India announce T20 squad for South Africa series, Suresh Raina included

BCCI have announced the T20 squad for the upcoming series against South Africa and Suresh Raina steals all the headlines, after being recalled to the Indian side after a year long gap.

Suresh Raina last played for India in the home T20 series against England and has been out of favour ever since.

Raina’s inability to clear the Yo-Yo Test was given as the reason for Raina’s exclusion for almost a year.

Raina was not having any of it, and started working on his fitness late last year, ultimately clearing the Yo-Yo Test with flying colours.

But there was still one problem, that of Raina not having had a very memorable season in the Ranji Trophy.

The Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy was Raina’s chance of showing the selectors that he still was relevant in the T20 format, and he did that in emphatic style, scoring a 100 and 2 50’s.

He has been rewarded for his performances with a flight to South Africa, and could be drafted into the XI as well.

Raina would now be hoping that he could somehow find a way into the ODI team as well, with good performances for the T20 side.

Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin continue to be ignored in the T20 format and it seems like it is the end of the road for at least Jaddu and Ashwin(in the limited overs format).

Ajinkya Rahane will need to have a good IPL in order to come back in contention for India T20 spot.

India’s squad:

Virat (Captain) Rohit (vc), Shikhar, KL Rahul, Raina, MSD (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik, Manish, Axar, Chahal, Kuldeep, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Unadkat, Shardul Thakur.

The T20 series is scheduled to be held from the 18th of February