Mumbai: Batsman Suresh Raina will replace Ambati Rayudu in India’s one-day squad for next month’s England tour, the Indian cricket (BCCI) has said.
Raina, who last played an ODI for India in October 2015, has been called up after Rayudu failed to clear a fitness test held in Bengaluru on Friday.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Suresh Raina as Ambati Rayudu’s replacement in India’s ODI squad for the series against England,” the BCCI said on their website .
Rayudu last played for India against Zimbabwe in 2016 and while the likes of skipper Virat Kohli and his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni passed the Test with flying colours, the Hyderabad batsman’s score was well below the threshold mark of 16.1 as per reports.
Rayudu isn’t the only one who failed the test that has seen not just the senior boys, but also the ‘A’ team players take the test in batches at the NCA. While the India ‘A’ and U-19 teams were so far excluded from going through the Yo-Yo test, they were added to the system this time round as even the Test team went through the fitness test before the one-off Test against Afghanistan. The earlier casualties were Mohammad Shami in the senior team and Sanju Samson in the ‘A’ team.
Meanwhile, as for Raina, he played his last ODI against South Africa in Mumbai in 2015. In total, the swashbuckling southpaw has featured in 223 ODIs (192 innings) and has scored 5,568 runs, which includes 5 centuries and 36 half-centuries.
The 31-year-old is also part of India’s Twenty20 squad to face England. Starting on July 3, India will play three Twenty20 internationals, three one-dayers and five Test matches against England.
