Raina

[Smith]

What's with the guy and his stubborn reluctance to learn to play the pull shot? It's such a shame a talented striker like him struggle with extremely obvious problem like this.

 

[ret]

He is useful batsman when playing to his potential, along with being a good fielder. hopefully he will sort the problem out .... it's easy to criticize but i guess he knows what needs to be done

 

[kingkallis]

Just couple of bad games........

Dhoni should have sent him @ No.3 in first few games.......he is unable to adjust in English conditions it seems!

 

[Uppercut]

It's notoriously difficult to learn if you're not naturally good at it. I'm not letting him off the hook, but we should probably bear that in mind.

 

[Sanz]

Mohinder Amarnath.

 

[Prince EWS]

I'm not letting him off the hook

 

[Uppercut]

Didn't intend that one. You can tell because it was reasonably good, if i'd meant it it would've been something unbelievably dire along the lines of "don't pull a fast one on him just because he had a bad game" or the like.

 

[duffer]

I've seen him pull well on slower decks where he has the time to play the shot safely but on wuicker decks he's probably more wary of having a go at it. He's still bloody young.

 

[Furball]

What's with the guy and his stubborn reluctance to learn to play the pull shot? It's such a shame a talented striker like him struggle with extremely obvious problem like this.

Given that he'll play most of his cricket on lifeless subcontinental pitches, why bother learning to play the shot?

 

[irfan]

Should get Ishant to ping down half-trackers at him during training. Oh, wait,... that's not going to help is it

 

[honestbharani]

his grip is kinda difficult one to pull off good pull or hook shots with... I guess he will just never really be able to play it completely well.. Just needs to work around it like many other players have done, tbh. In T20s, he needs to make sure he can at least get up, push it down and run off to the other end. The hook or pull is not the only way to tackle quick short pitched bowling to your body... even in T20s...

 

[Shri]

Should atleast try to keep the damn ball down when playing the pull shot. And he says its his favourite shot in the introduction clip that is played everytime he bats.

 

[rivera213]

It's notoriously difficult to learn if you're not naturally good at it.

Ja, especially being Indian with slow wickets.

In tests, he can duck every short ball but I'm sure those in India and Raina himself see the limited overs formats as more of a realistic place for him to play international cricket.

I'm not letting him off the hook

I know it wasn't intentional, but you still take the credit for it!

Given that he'll play most of his cricket on lifeless subcontinental pitches, why bother learning to play the shot?

Because he is of international class, and while I think Pujara and Rahane are better long-term test prospects, Raina surely must feel he has a long future in the limited overs format for the next 8+ years.

Since not every series will be held in India, he needs to practice the shots which he'll need to play in places outside of the slow Indian wickets.

He wont ever be Viv Richards mk.II but he only needs to be good enough that he wont face short stuff everytime he first comes to the crease.

 

[andruid]

Ja, especially being Indian with slow wickets.

In tests, he can duck every short ball but I'm sure those in India and Raina himself see the limited overs formats as more of a realistic place for him to play international cricket.

County stint could do him good. A season at a ground like Headingley could be the sort of place he could work out his short ball issues

 

[honestbharani]

Problem is, I don't see counties lining up to sign him..

 

[Xuhaib]

Its quite funny when he calls pull is his favourite shot, decent talent though.

 

[Sanz]

Problem is, I don't see counties lining up to sign him..

When was the last time an Indian player played in County Cricket and benefited (Not talking monetary benefit) from it ? There are world class batsmen in his own team if he wants to learn it.

 

[oitoitoi]

Interesting as I've never ever seen an international batsmen quite that crap against the short ball, he wasn't even ducking, just fending it away with his gloves. He definitely has the reflexes to play it, but as mentioned earlier if you haven't been taught it early as a kid it will be very hard for him to learn now. Basically he needs a LOT of net sessions in a bouncy net with the bowling machine sending down short stuff at 85-90. Needs to build himself a back foot technique from scratch, both defensive and attacking shots. I reckon we should ship him off to the Australian academy and let one of the Chappell brothers loose on him. Even if he was merely adequate on the back foot, he's so strong off the front he could be a useful player. Rohit Sharma needs to tighten his technique, it's got too much off Yuvraj about it with the lazy arm movements.

 

[oitoitoi]

When was the last time an Indian player played in County Cricket and benefited (Not talking monetary benefit) from it ? There are world class batsmen in his own team if he wants to learn it.

Lol @ ignorance, Zaheer Khan's stint at Wocs paved the way for his international come back and improved him as a bowler immeasurably, you could even argue that it won us the series in England in 07. RP Singh improved an awful lot at Leics too, they analysed his biomechanics, stengthened his legs and his core which improved his pace and accuracy.. Even Ganguly said his short stint in CC after being dropped let him adjust his game which made him so much better on his come back.

 

[rivera213]

County stint could do him good. A season at a ground like Headingley could be the sort of place he could work out his short ball issues

Yeah, and I'm sure he'd get a contract if not for stupid ECB rules.

I'm not sure if he even practices the hook in net practice.

Problem is, I don't see counties lining up to sign him..

I'm all for having up to 3 foreigners per county team personally. County cricket is dire and any foreign talent would be welcomed.

Imagine the Premier League (football) with predominantely English players.

Its quite funny when he calls pull is his favourite shot, decent talent though.

The thing is, he's good with the ball under his eyeline but when it's level (or close to level) he seems to panic.