Playing in Mumbai proved to be a turning point in Suresh Raina's career, says Praveen Amre, who like the left-handed batsman, scored a hundred on test debut
Playing in Mumbai proved to be a turning point in Suresh Raina's career, says Praveen Amre, who like the left-handed batsman, scored a hundred on test debut
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Ask Suresh Raina's youth coach Pramod Kumar Gupta about the turning point of the left-hand batsman's career and he will talk about his move to play local cricket in Mumbai.
"For me, his decision to play the Times Shield for Air India proved to be a great one. In his first match, he scored a double hundred and a hundred which were followed up by hundreds in each innings in the second game. The performance gave him a lot of confidence and attracted everyone's attention. He came into the selector's radar. 'Woh bahut bada turning point tha Raina ke career ka," Gupta, who coached Raina at Lucknow's Sports Hostel, told MiD DAY yesterday.
Flying high
It was Praveen Amre, coach of Air India, who had convinced Raina about the importance of playing in Mumbai. "I was the chairman of junior selection committee which picked Raina in the India under-19 team. I was the one who asked him to play in Mumbai. It was a learning phase and playing in the Times Shield would have provided him the experience of three-day matches. Our (Mumbai) cricket is not easy, the mindset needs to be different.
Credit to Raina that he came from outside and took advantage of it," Amre told MiD DAY.
"The value of doing well in the Times Shield is that you are playing with the SG ball, which in Mumbai conditions, swings and reverse swings a lot. We value a batsman who plays out two sessions ufffd it shows his temperament," said Amre, who also coached Raina in the India A team which played the Emerging Trophy in Australia.
Interestingly, Raina emulated his Air India coach by scoring a century on Test debut yesterday. Amre had scored a sensational debut hundred against a rampaging South African attack at the fiery Kingsmead wicket of Durban on the 1992-93 tour.
The Mumbai coach admitted that watching Raina's innings rekindled a lot of memories.
True test
"Test cricket is the ultimate test and he passed it with flying colours."
Explaining the value of a hundred on debut, Amre said: "A player is selected on the basis of his domestic performance and every player has doubts whether he belongs to the highest level. A hundred gives you self-belief."
However, not all the batsmen are able to build on the solid start and unfortunately Amre's Test career never really took off from South Africa. The debut hundred remains the Mumbaikar's only Test century.
Amre said the best advice he could give Raina so that he realises his potential is to just look up at his non-striker partner during yesterday's partnership ufffd Sachin Tendulkar.
"He will do well to look up to his non-striker as to how he takes each game, the focus, attitude and hunger of a man playing his 168th Test. The team demanded a double hundred and Tendulkar delivered. If he does that, the rest will follow," said the former batting stalwart.
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