Suresh Raina announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020, shortly after his Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni made a similar decision. Raina was only 33 when he called time on his India career, bringing an end to a memorable international journey that included 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 18 Tests. A key member of India’s 2011 ODI World Cup-winning squad, Raina also created history by becoming the first Indian batter to score an international century in all three formats.

However, the latter stages of his career were overshadowed by uncertainty over his place in the national team. Raina has now revealed that he felt communication between him and the Indian team management was not always clear. Despite passing the Yo-Yo fitness test and continuing to score runs in domestic cricket, the left-hander did not receive another opportunity to represent India.

Speaking on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel, Raina recalled discussions with the coaching staff and his efforts to remain in contention.

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“See, every captain has his own team. He obviously feels someone else is better. Yuvraj Singh and I failed the Yo-Yo test, but we cleared it. We played a lot of domestic too. Scored a lot of runs.”

🚨Suresh Raina opens up about the final phase of his international career. 👀

He says he and Yuvraj Singh initially failed the Yo-Yo test but later cleared it, played domestic cricket and scored runs.

Raina also pointed out that he was Man of the Series in India’s 2018 T20I… pic.twitter.com/mSllmbdXU7

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Raina also reflected on his strong performances in T20Is and his disappointment at missing out on the 2019 World Cup. “I was named Player of the Tournament in South Africa in T20Is. But in the 2019 World Cup, a different batter was preferred for England. A different keeper went there too. Back then, I felt that I could have done better.”

According to Raina, the biggest frustration was the lack of clarity surrounding selection decisions. He said he approached the captain, coaches, and selectors for answers but did not receive the communication he expected.

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“Players expect respect. The communication could have been better, such as: what are the selectors thinking? What message is being given to them by them? But that’s not in our control.” Suresh Raina added that he asked several questions about his future but ultimately had to accept the decisions made by the team management. “I asked plenty of questions, but didn’t get any answers. I spoke to both the captain and the coaches. But they did what they felt was right.”