Suresh Raina and India gear-up for South African safari
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 has set its sights on winning the Test series in South Africa for the first time in its history.
The mouthwatering Test match series starts in mid-December and the Indian team for the tour is full of belief and confidence after scoring series wins at home over Australia and New Zealand.
After struggling to keep their grip on the number one ranking in Test cricket at the start of the current year they have become better and better with time and are now firmly etched at the numero-uno in the longest format of the game.
The squad chosen for the tour is full of talent and ability, especially in the batting department. One of the brightest upcoming stars in the ranks is left hander Suresh Raina, who made his debut in the format during the tour of Sri
Lanka earlier in the year.
Raina’s stint in the premier and oldest format of the game got off to a dream start with a debut century in the second Test of the closely fought series.
The Chennai Super Kings player claims that he found the format to be more taxing when he face the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 in the two home series that followed. "To succeed in Tests, your temperament is more important than
your technique", he said. "How you handle pressure situations and how you work your way out of trouble through grit and courage is also important".
Now Raina has his sights on the South African series, and the left hander admitted that beating the Proteas at home is an enormous task yet the entire team was looking forward to toppling them on the eve of the 2011 50-overs World
Cup in the Subcontinent.
"It is a very important series, and a big challenge, for me, though I have played there before, it has been only in the ODIs and Twenty20". "Self-belief, confidence and mental discipline will be the key to success in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757",
he said. "I am looking forward to the challenge because when you do well against good teams, you get appreciated for having done well. This is also why you want to play international sport".
The Proteas have been constantly challenging the Indians for the top spot in the rankings, and have a potent pace attack that is going to make life difficult for Raina and the rest of the batsmen in the line-up.
South Africans have been one of the most consistent teams in the rankings and have lost only one series since their defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in July 2006, and understandably Raina and the rest of the squad have their minds
firmly focused on the task of beating them at home.
The Indians came close to toppling them during the 2006-07 tour where they won the first Test after the heroics of pacer Shiv Sreesanth.
However, they lost the next two Test matches to hand over the series to the hosts, this time around they have a far more balanced squad that has some match winning bowlers in the ranks also.
Zaheer Khan would be leading the pace attack, the left armer has been in the form of his life with the ball and has become an accomplished fast bowler, who has troubled the best in the business with his late swinging deliveries.
Zaheer is likely to share the new ball with the lanky http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566, who has the ability to extract disconcerting bounce from a length. The right armer has enjoyed considerable success away from home and is set to flourish in South
African conditions.
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