Is this the end of the road for Suresh Raina?

It is hard to notice, but it's already been one year since Suresh Raina found his name on India's teamsheet. The Uttar Pradesh batsman played his last One-day game exactly one year back on October 25th, and, sadly, he has not been missed thus far. Even though he played in the ever-present shadows of MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in the middle order, the UP lad's contributions down the order were always been valuable. Who can forget his short but effective innings of 34* against Australia in the quarterfinals of the 2011 WC and his 36* runs against bitter rivals Pakistan in the semifinals. It was, indeed, unfortunate for the left-hander that he had to miss the ongoing series against New Zealand due to viral fever. However, has he done enough in the recent past to merit that recall into the team?

But his diminishing powers with the bat were underlined during IPL 2015, in which the CSK batsman scored just 374 runs in 17 matches. It was the first time the then tournament's highest run-getter had scored less than 400 runs in a single edition. But it was his failure in the bilateral series loss in Bangladesh that had the team management looking for his replacement for Raina.

But, the southpaw found skipper Dhoni's support as Rahane was replaced by Ambati Rayudu in the next match. It was, however, once again the same story for Raina when he walked in - the scorecard read 4 for 110, and the team needed him to steady the innings. The left-hander did not justify the lifeline offered by his captain by edging an easy catch to the keeper, and India were all out for 200 runs. Despite India winning the third ODI, the middle-order collapse was a worrying factor.

Now devoid of confidence, form, and fitness, Raina's situation reminded fans of his days back in 2007. Making his ODI debut as a teenager back in 2005, the UP lad was one of the finest young talents for Indiagoing into the 2007 World Cup. But a career-threatening knee injury ruled him out of the WC squad travelling to the Caribbean. However, Raina made a remarkable comeback into the squad a year later with two hundreds in the Asia Cup.

But things look very different for the 29-year old now. If the selectors looked at his stats in the last IPL or domestic season, it is hard to give him a chance in the national side. A combined tally of 80 runs in the Asia Cup T20 and World T20 followed by being upstaged by Virat Kohli in the IPL 2016 season did not bolster the case for the southpaw, who is arguably the best IPL batsman ever. 

It was then not surprising when Raina, who captained India's reserve team back in 2010, was not even in the squad for the tour of Zimbabwe in June 2016. Duleep Trophy offered another chance to impress the selectors and his knocks of 52, 35 and 90 as India Green's captain do appear to have played a part in his selection for the ongoing ODI series.

Back in 2007, Raina was one for the future, but now with just a month away from being 30 years old, his position in the team is as precarious as all-rounder Irfan Pathan's was in 2009. Despite declaring Raina unfit for the fourth and fifth ODIs against New Zealand, the team management has not called in a replacement for him. This could be seen as a sign that MS Dhoni has some trust left in his former CSK teammate to make a strong comeback. With the Champions Trophy in 2017 looming, the upcoming home series against England will be India's last ODI series before the tournament, and it could be the last straw in Raina's ODI career.