Suresh Raina will soon begin preparing for the domestic season with UP team. (Source: Instagram)
Suresh Raina has had numerous practice stints in Amsterdam to stay fit and keep himself ready for the rigorous duties of the domestic cricket or when the opportunity to play for India comes up. But, for now, the second one looks a distant possibility having been overlooked for the ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka. His last ODI came in October, 2015 while he played a T20I after, in February this year, against England.
The left handed middle order batsman was training at the National Cricket Academy until recently while remaining hopeful of a berth in the India squad for Sri Lanka but with that not happening, Raina will switch his attention to getting ready for the domestic season with Uttar Pradesh. And to stay fit and healthy, Raina can bank on the experienced trainers who he had been working with in Amsterdam. The season begins with the All India Buchi Babu Cricket Tournament.
“With the new season around the corner, I am determined, hungry and eager to play the highest form of the game for India,” the 28-year-old Raina had told PTI. “It is wonderful to be able to train with total intensity with the Dutch national team since I want to hit the ground running when the domestic season starts with a series of tournaments across the country in Chennai, Chandigarh and Hyderabad,” he said.
In a picture shared on Instagram, Raina and the rest of the staff dined ahead of the upcoming season. He wrote, “Looking forward to the @upcacricket camp starting tomorrow. Very excited to have @behrooz.9 and @hng.nguyen onboard for training the team and bringing the complete fitness regime from #Amsterdam to all the way in #Kanpur. Thank you so much @rajeevshuklaoffl for having this all organised and making it possible. #FitTeam #FocusedTeam #Camp #cricket #Kanpur #UPCA #GreenPark #ranjitrophy #firstclassseason #Excited #committed”.
The table also has (on the right) Eklavya Dwivedi, his wife and Priyanka Chaudhary (Raina’s wife) while on the left are Rajeev Shukla, former UPCA secretary, and the two trainers Behrooz and Hung Nguyen.
