Raina rediscovers mojo

Considering the multiple roles Suresh Raina plays in the Chennai Super Kings set-up, it would be limiting to view him as only a gun batsman. More on that later, but he has almost been condemned by comparison this season. Compared against his own relentless run-making from previous years, Raina has managed scores of 29, 17,8 and 23 in his last four innings. He was, in his own words, in 'good shape', but couldn't capitalise on bright starts on each of these occasions.

It was always going to be a question of 'when' rather than 'if'. It was to be on Monday, against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Raina's role on the day wasn't dissimilar to an opener's, after Dwayne Smith was dismissed for a duck off the last ball of the first over. Raina's work was as much about accumulation as it was about flair-dripping pick-up strokes. It was a happy marriage between the two, as Raina never forsook one for the other till his exit in the 15th over.

By the time Harshal Patel had completed the eighth over, Super Kings were on 48 having lost Brendon McCullum as well. Raina was on 22 off 23 balls. On display were his go-to shots: back-cuts, glides to third man and the wristy flick of the hips, apart from the odd uppish on-drive. Raina had waited for the right time to break free and in Iqbal Abdullah he found the bowler to attack. After clattering him over cover with an inside-out drive, Raina went a lot straighter the next delivery: two fours in two balls.

He went back to being unnoticed for a while, before he jumped out of the crease, his bat completing a whooshing arc, to whip Yuzvendra Chahal's delivery into the stands. Raina also unfurled a half-pull, half-sweep against David Wiese while going across and falling over in what looked like a parody tribute to Rohan Kanhai.

Importantly, Raina would bring up his fifty the very next delivery, and despite his dismissal soon after, he had done enough, pushing Super Kings to an eventually match-winning total. Raina said later that his 'good chat' with Dhoni basically revolved around him batting till the 14th or the 15th over, and to 'read circumstances' better.

Raina did all of that, but he has been doing a lot more even if not always with the bat. On the field, his is an unmistakable presence, as he happily mans any post he is assigned besides chipping in with his handy offspin in R Ashwin's absence.

He is also invariably the first man to acknowledge the efforts of a colleague. To see a Super Kings fielder making a desperate dive and coming up trumps is a common sight. A more common sight is Raina running up to the fielder, even if it involves him going the distance from cover to third man, and patting or back-slapping him.

If a batsman has been struck by a bouncer, he would be the first man calling on him. Before the Sunrisers Hyderabad game on Saturday, Raina went up to Shikhar Dhawan and his Uttar Pradesh team-mate, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and exchanged hugs.

If he were a wrestler in the WWE, he would go high-fiving every fan on his way from the locker room to the ring. If he were a movie director, Raina would make an assembly line of saccharine, feel-good films. This is the Raina way, even if some might find it too cloying. Raina's press conferences themselves are an extension of the theme even as journalists groan at his refusal to go beyond 'exciting times' and 'wonderful dressing room.'

But it's easy to see why he is loved the way he is by Super Kings fans: they see him as the ultimate team-man. The ovation Raina receives each time he strides out, which is next only to that of Dhoni, is proof of the pudding.