Cricketer Suresh Raina Escapes Major Accident While Driving

Suresh Raina, who has been named the captain of the India Blue team for the Duleep Trophy, was travelling from Ghaziabad to Kanpur to take part in one of the matches in the tournament, scheduled to be held at the Green Park Stadium on Wednesday. But the discarded Indian cricketer had a providential escape when one of the tyres of the Range Rover he was travelling in burst near Etawah early on Tuesday, police said. One of the rear tyres of the Range Rover SUV burst near Friend's Colony in Etawah. Police said if the car had been travelling at high speed, the consequences could have been disastrous.

The police arranged for another vehicle to enable Raina to complete the journey.

The cricketer's vehicle did not have a spare tyre and he was stranded for some time until locals informed the police and he was sent in another vehicle to Kanpur. The incident happened at 2 a.m.

DSP Rajesh Kumar Singh said that Raina was at the wheels when the incident took place.

There was no injury to him, the police said.

Raina, who has not played an ODI since October 2015, was ignored for the limited overs series against Sri Lanka. The southpaw got at least two four-day games to make an impact. However, he was not picked for the upcoming limited overs series against Australia beginning September 17.

One of the reasons why Raina has been out of the selectors' radar is because the left-hander failed to clear to the 'Yo-Yo' endurance test which is considered as one of the major parameters to judge a player's fitness.

The 'Yo-Yo' endurance test is an advanced version of the 'beep' test that was used by teams of earlier generations. The current Indian team is considered to be the fittest by a fair distance.

It has been learnt that for the current Indian team, the acceptable 'Yo-Yo' score is 19.5 and upwards. Captain Virat Kohli, easily the fittest Indian cricketer, scores around 21 in the test.

However, Raina had scored well below the permissible level of 19.5 which is the biggest reason for his ouster.

(With IANS Inputs)