Raina century

Suresh Raina was particularly pleased with his effort as it came after a dreadful run for India in the Test series .

                     Suresh Raina came into this series with question marks over his place in the

one-day outfit, having been left out of the squad when India last picked a full-strength side,

during the Asia Cup in March. The counterattacking hundred on Wednesday, his first

outside Asia and his first since January 2010, in the second ODI against England should

give him a head start in the race for middle-order spots.

                   Raina was particularly pleased with his effort as it came after a dreadful run for

India in the Test series, which ended with three one-sided defeats. "This knock is one of the

most special ones for me given the circumstances and the conditions," he told the BCCI

website. "We hadn't won the game in a long time and to help the team break that jinx with a

century was very satisfying."

                   Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma had started India's recovery after a nervy start

that has been a familiar sight all tour, but it was Raina's century off 74 deliveries propelled

India towards a 300-plus total. "After I got my fifty, I got a bit conscious [about the score]

because I hadn't scored a century since a long time and I wanted to finish well," he said."

                  Rohit also got out after his fifty and I was determined to carry on till the end. So I

playedkhadoos (doggedly) for a while. After a while I started to play my shots, which did

disturb the bowlers' rhythm. They struggled with their field placements and bowling areas.

That's when I knew that I was dominating them and was thinking one step ahead of them."
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