One is his drive on the up to seam bowling. Usually a batsman essaying this stroke makes a large stride forward to get his weight into the stroke "on the rise". Distinctively, Raina seems somehow to manages one-and-a-half steps instead of one - in getting forward he makes a delicious little shimmy that takes him a metre or two out of his crease in his follow-through. Thus he often converts length balls into drivable ones. This stroke, and his sumptuous cover-drive, are Raina's two most attractive strokes.

Another Raina stroke that is set up by the feet before the hands are brought into play is his flick through midwicket. He often plays this to full deliveries on off-stump by quickly skipping across his stumps after he has judged the line of the ball (in this he slightly resembles Sachin Tendulkar and his signature flick behind square leg). Not many left-handed batsmen play with any felicity through midwicket with a straight bat - among contemporary cricketers one thinks only of Graeme Smith - so Raina is unusual in this.

Lastly, Raina's swift feet are manifest in the deft little scoop shot he plays to fine-leg off the quicks. He deploys this to catch the bowler off-guard - one remembers the look on Kabir Ali's face when he was caught by surprise by this stroke last week at Faridabad. This shot is similarly brought off by a quick last-second surge across the stumps, the only difference being that in this case Raina is usually premeditating.

A hint at the strengths of Raina's batting has been broadcast all season by his superlatively assured and predatory fielding. He seems always beautifully balanced while attacking the ball, and covers huge swathes of ground right and left in whichever position he is fielding. He gives the sense that he would happily field all three hundred balls in an innings if only the batsmen would be so kind to hit them at him. Already he is the most influential member of the team when India are on the field.

One feels - I accept that this is only conjecture - that Raina might end up as a more successful Test batsman than either Yuvraj Singh or Mohammad Kaif, the two other chosen successors to the Tendulkar-Ganguly-Laxman triumverate. Raina's batting, while very attractive, is more compact and secure than that of Yuvraj (just watch Raina move in defence forward and back). While he is not such a natural striker of the ball as Yuvraj, neither does he jab and fence at the ball with no feet as Yuvraj often does. He is a more limited but a more industrious player than Yuvraj.

Nor does his batting possess the ugly unnatural lines and extreme nervous tension of Kaif's game, which makes batting look more difficult than it should be and lends itself to all kinds of errors. Of course, a great deal more is required to succeed in Test cricket than just good technique. But from the evidence of his fledgling career it would seem that Raina is not short of any of these other gifts either.

Is not it too early to call Raina as the successor to the Tendulkar-Ganguly-Laxman generation? From an experience of watching cricket about 16 years, I can tell whenever a player comes to international erina, he lacks lots of capabality and he has to develop as a player to survive in international cricket. Could anyone hardly predict about Dravid..he is going to one of the most consisent players in Indian cricket histroy after watching his 1st 4/5 ODIs? Neither one could predict about Ganguly who is going to score over 10,000 runs in ODIs after watching in 1st few ODIs. Most of the players developed as a player and were match winners for India for a long time. I think its better to wait and tell weather Raina will become another Kaif or Kambli of Indian Cricket considering he has all the capabalities but mental strength, yet to be tested.

Its really very pleasing to watch such a young lad perform so resposibly. His approach to the makes me predict that he is going to become the central pillar of the future of Indian cricket.

First, the irony in your article - an artist such as Laxman doesnt play for India while an athletic fielder such as Kaif who is really unwatchable as batsman plays. Even worse they are competing against each other now for a test spot(I am not from Andhra..)
Raina is just absolutely gorgeous to watch, especially his defence. But isnt cricket becoming more like baseball, have to club the ball somewhere for runs, even then there is still lot of elegance in cricket, baseball is just the pits..

Agree with your article, Raina is really a protege and will be a successor to the Tendulkar-Ganguly-Laxman era surely. As for whether its early or not, its the right time to recognise him, and thats not saying to go to Extremes of making him a CELEBRITY. About selection of Kaif who is not so much pleasing with the bat, i think he adds some balance to the team and with his batting he could be a lot more useful. If he is having a bad run of form then thats a different story but he surely is an asset to have and has been around to deserve some patience from fans to secure his place in the team in such circumstances. And i think the Indian Board is doing the right thing. As a matter of fact, they are correct in every aspect at the moment.

An even bigger irony seems to me that a one -day game can elevate someone into the status of hero, overnight; one wonders how light Raina's feet will be when he has to bat 5 hours to Save a Test or a Series. But who wants to watch Mudasssar Nazar or a Mike Atherton nowadays? They don't bring in the spectators do they?
I predict in the Future India will do away with TestMatches altogether and instead play 15 or 20 One dayers, depending on the opposition. Blame it on the mob.

Chandrahas

I am dying to watch Raina play the Australian ODI side now that he has a reputation to defend (and is not an unknown quantity).

But something inside tells me that in 5 years Raina will be joined by the much-maligned Dhoni, in the avatar of a specialist middle order Test bat with improved skills, as the two middle order giants of Indian Test team.

And he will not be keeping then, for sure...

It's a wonderfully incisive observation, quite rare in cricket writing though not uncommon among TV commentators like Ian Chappell or Nassir Husein, on Raina's batting. I wonder though in this age of high bandwidth Internet, if it's possible for Cricinfo to support such interesting observations, like Chappell and Husein, with appropriate 'live' footage? It'll make Cricinfo even more interesting for thousands of people to whom such fine reading of this lovely game is as important as watching it and help relish the point even better. It’ll also serve as an antidote to the sickness caused by all the trash that’s produced by our TV channels and some ex cricketers in the name of cricket related programs
It'll be fascinating to watch how respective careers of Yuvraj and Raina develop in future. Kaif, however, can't be considered belonging to the same class, though no less important to Indian cricket, as the other two. He'll have to do Rahul Dravid to climb that mountain. And he doesn't seem as naturally gifted as Rahul was at a similar stage.

It is impressive that he middles the ball, generates power despite his small frame and has some polished shots. Raina should work hard on these technical aspects. For me, the best parts of Raina's game is his self-belief, his consistency in scoring and his capacity to play at different tempos. This shows that he applies himself well and has a good attitude to both defence and attack. In due course, it will make him a winner.

First look of him, Raina does look a lot better equipped than any othe player in the current lot. His knock of around 35 in Pak one day under great pressure also seemed to indicate good temperament

Seems to possess a good defence as also good and exhilarating strokes .

Let us hope , he does not get weighed down under expectations.

Whne this could happen to Tendulkar after 17 years, it could happen to a raw youngster at the early stages of his career

Suresh Raina is an ABSOLUTE delight to watch. Definitely, like skipper Rahul Dravid said, he IS the future of the team. I wish him the best of luck, since he's definitely got the talent to shine. He's really proved that hard work does pay off.