Shastri backs ‘class act’ Raina for a Test place

India team manager Ravi Shastri has vowed to make it his ‘endeavour’ to get all-rounder Suresh Raina into the Test team, and says the explosive batsman is ‘brilliant to watch’.

Raina has been in superb for in recent months, revitalising the squad in England after their Test series defeat to lead them to an ODI series win. Raina was not in the Test side, and was a breath of fresh air.

He then went on to do well for the Chennai Super Kings, who won the Champions League T20, and Shastri feels it’s time for the spinner to add to his 17 Test caps. He last played a Test in August 2012.

Shastri said: “The more I see him play, he is brilliant to watch. It will be my endeavour really to do something that will get him back into the Indian Test match team. He is a class act.

“When he is going he is a treat to watch. Even at times when I see him bat at the nets, when the ball hits the bat, just that sound or sense of timing you know it is something different. Let’s hope, fingers crossed.”

India currently face the West Indies in an all-format tour to the sub-continent, and their Test side has not yet been announced.