Opinions on... Suresh Raina

It doesn't matter how good a batsman you are. To be a great Indian batsman, or viewed as a long term prospect in India, your name counts. I mean the way it sounds.

Suresh Raina isn't going to cut it.

Its a name good enough to make a successful actor; may be. A respected poet; perhaps. A singer too.



A batsman's name conveys is imminent stature amongst his peers, the kind of batsman he will likely become and the longevity he is likely to enjoy. Suresh Raina's name suggests an eager, dutiful but airy-fairy-wafty batsman who is highly regarded by Australian selectors

Look at some of the names that are considered undoubtedly great when it comes to batsmanship; in Indian cricket. Merchant, Hazare, Pataudi, the Manjrekars, Borde, Vengsarkar, Gavaskar, Vishwanath, Dravid, Azharuddin, Tendulkar (not the way Sanjay Manjrekar says it), Venkatasai Vangiparappu Laxman....

I forgot to mention the Amarnaths...

And and if the sound of Amarnath is not good enough; add Lala to it. Notice how between Lala, Mohinder and Surinder, the standings of each men in the history of the game in India is in descending order of the "weight" in the sound of the name. I mean sure you have "Amarnath" as the last name but Surinder kind of dilutes the collective impact. The overall result is simply a century on debut. Entirely on the weight of the name "Amarnath". I have no doubt that if Lala and his wife had named him "Balwinder" or something similar, he would have had a better career than Mohinder Amarnath and who knows India might have won the Oval Test in 1979.

Ganguly, isn't much of a name. It's got too many curves and soft on the edges and men don't seem like men when they say the word "Ganguly". So Ganguly's success as a batsman is hard to explain till you realize that with "Dada" and "Maharaj" for nick names; even if Ganguly's real name were "Pai" for example, it wouldn't have mattered. My due apologies to all Pais aspiring to be batsmen.....give it up. You won't make it. Stick to your books.

Essentially the name has to have a good feel to it. But that's not enough; for it also can't be a common name....

Workmen like names, Contractor, Engineer, Sharma, Joshi, Patil aren't going to help you achieve greatness in the context of Indian cricket.

Suresh Raina's problem is that the names Cheteshwar and Virat convey batsmen who will last the distance. True to their names one scored the fastest fifty on debut in a test match fourth innings in a successful chase and the other scored a century on a World Cup debut.

Suresh Raina should be confined to IPLs

Related Posts

• Unsolicited Opinions on other Cricketers