By IANS
Kolkata : Left-hander Suresh Raina is focusing on the upcoming Bengal-Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy encounter as a stepping stone for making a comeback to the Indian team.
The Ghaziabad boy, undoubtedly a livewire in the field, has already shown excellent form with two tons in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, including a double hundred against Orissa. Raina looked quite determined to keep the good work going.
“My only focus is to put up a good performance in this Ranji match. Thoughts regarding a berth in the national squad are all secondary at the moment,” he stated Saturday night on his arrival to the city.
When asked about his chances in the India ODI squad to Australia, he said, “As of now I am focusing on the match only. I want to put up a series on consistent scores and that will hopefully be my passport.”
The last time Raina donned the national colours was in January against West Indies in Chennai.
Chairman of National Selectors Dilip Vengsarkar’s presence during the Bengal-Uttar Pradesh match at the Eden Gardens does not seem to be much of a concern to him either.
“I’ll just play my natural game,” Raina said.
He was also all praise for Sourav Ganguly and seemed quite confident of the latter making it big as well.
“He is a tremendous player. After having played such kind of knocks here, there is every reason for him to be successful in Australia,” he said.
The Bengal-Uttar Pradesh Ranji tie gets underway Monday.