Suresh Raina loves to anticipate. You can see it work for him when he is fielding in the 30-yard circle. Unlike many, he likes to anticipate the batsmen’s shots and tries his best to move into positions early. He carries that tendency to batting where it doesn’t always work out well. Especially with the bouncers. The first T20 against England in Kanpur was a mixed-bag. He moved here and there, upset the bowlers’ rhythm and just when it seemed he had things covered, the old anticipation-urge did him in. His battle with Ben Stokes in particular was action-packed affair – a six and four but in the end he fell to Stokes. Here is it how it played out.
The urge to move towards off started in this over against Liam Plunkett. He walloped Plunkett for a four and started to move right across his stumps for the follow-up delivery. It wasn’t a short one and Raina managed to tickle it to leg side for a single. Was the movement in anticipation of a bouncer?
