For a player to be compared to Yuvraj Singh, they must be a special talent and it says something about the current national line-up when a player of such quality has not managed to force his way into the India Test XI.

Raina joined a specialist government Sports College in 1999 in a bid to become a professional cricketer and the Indian selectors could not ignore him for long as aged 15 and a half he was chosen for the U-19 tour to England.

His reputation continued to grow at junior level where he frequently put bowling attacks to the sword, firing multiple double-hundreds. A consistent series of stellar performances had even the great Rahul Dravid unable to contain his excitement at witnessing such a prospect.

After touring Pakistan for the U-19 Asian ODI Championship he was selected for the 2004 U-19 World Cup, where he struck three half centuries, including a stunning 90 off only 38 balls.

Then, having been awarded a Border-Gavaskar scholarship to train at the Australian Cricket Academy he continued his run-fest, racking up 620 in six games, in the 2005-06 season, to help propel Uttar Pradesh to Ranji Trophy glory.

On 25 June 2008, he scored his maiden international hundred against Hong Kong during the Asia Cup. Eighty four against Pakistan and 116 off 107 against Bangladesh followed in his next two matches and he capped his sparkling performances by earning the man of the match award on all three occasions.

Raina has been unfortunate with Test selection. He has been in several squads but such has been the calibre of batsman ahead of him, the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly, has meant he is still searching for that elusive Test cap.

Batting aside, the 23-year-old is an exceptional fielder and is renowned for his ability to hit the stumps directly, from the infield. Aggressive batting coupled with outstanding athleticism in the field, mark Raina out as one-to-watch in the T20 World Cup.

It’s difficult to argue that the third instalment of the Indian Premier League has not been a success so far. The action on the field has been gripping, and the interest off it has been huge.

The action is much more accessible for IPL3 than it had been for the first two tournaments, with live television coverage supported by internet broadcasts via YouTube, as well as a well-constructed, information-rich ‘official’ website.

The website recorded 15 million exclusive pageviews on the first day of the tournament, whilst the YouTube coverage of the Deccan Chargers against the Kolkata Knight Riders attracted 8 million viewers.

Attendances at the Indian cricket grounds have also been very strong, presumably helped in part by the fact that spectators were deprived any action in IPL 2, which was moved to South Africa due to security concerns.

The interest in the tournament and popularity of its coverage has seen new sponsors queuing up to feature on the YouTube channel – Airtel and Brylcreem are the latest to sign up with Google, joining big brands such as HSBC.

With these success stories, the Indian Premier League is certainly here to stay, and the other cricketing nations will need to accommodate it, rather than treat it like an irritating mosquito that just won’t go away.

England can count themselves lucky that their man-of-the-moment is playing for the three lions – Morgan, an Irish-born Englishman, played 23 times for Ireland in ODI’s, scoring one century and five 50’s but the lure of Test cricket proved too hard to resist.

A compact left-hander with a reputation for audacious strokeplay, Morgan grew up playing Hurling and, with his vast range of shots, it’s clear his Irish roots have never deserted him.

He first drew attention with Ireland where he almost made a century on debut, scoring 99 before he was run out – the first time in ODI history a player had been dismissed for 99 on debut.

And he then went on to average 52.20 in the World Cricket League, which included his first ODI hundred, a magnificent 115 from 106 balls against Canada in Nairobi.

Morgan’s career took a downward turn at the 2007 World Cup. While his team-mates excelled, Morgan struggled to find any form and scratched around for 91 runs in nine matches.

But he helped Middlesex win the Twenty20 Cup in 2008 to catch the eye of the England selectors and having completed his qualification period, he was selected in England’s squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009.

Since making the switch Morgan has been a rock in England’s lower middle order. Not every player can mix sheer brawn with nous but the 23-year-old may be the prime candidate for a role England have struggled to fill for a decade – the finisher.

In January 2010 he was the only England player to be awarded a new contract at the auction for the third season of the IPL, signing for the Royal Challengers where he will join team-mate Kevin Pietersen.

Shortly afterwards, an imperious unbeaten 110 gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match ODI series with Bangladesh as he became the first player to score an ODI century for two different countries.

Ireland should beware when the two teams meet in Group D of this year’s ICC World Twenty20 competition.

Ravi Bopara is getting a head start on his England colleagues ahead of the World T20

Jacques Kallis and Ravi Bopara both played out of their skins yesterday afternoon in an enthralling fixture between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bopara, donning the Orange Cap that denotes who is the leading run scorer in the tournament hit 77 from 50 balls as his side, Kings XI, posted an impressive first innings total of 203.

With Kallis on top form, however, it was Bangalore who took the spoils with the South African hitting 89* from 55 balls. The other notable performance came courtesy of a 19 ball 50 from Robin Uthappa. He hit one Sree Sreesanth over for 25 in the latter part of what turned out to be relatively comfortable chase given the enormity of the task.

The pyrotechnics on display in an enthralling game were far superior to the drab Test in Chittagong, where England agonisingly defeated Bangladesh over five days. For those in the England Test side with IPL deals – namely Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood – it must have been envious eyes that were cast across to India. Bopara and Eoin Morgan competed in an even contest whilst they were forced to grind out a victory against clearly weaker opposition. The thought of going through the same excruciating exercise starting on Saturday can hardly be inspiring, especially as some of their team mates prepare for another round of high octane – and handsomely remunerated – action at the end of the week.

There is also the added bonus for England that some of their players are getting invaluable Twenty20 experience amongst illustrious company ahead of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. If Bopara continues to play as he has thus far in the IPL, he must surely warrant a place at the top of England’s batting order in that tournament.

Whilst I have been critical of Bopara as a Test player, this format is a completely different game. He looked every bit the classy opener for Kings XI yesterday. His 77 took him to the top of the scoring charts but by the end of the game he had to hand over the Orange Cap to Kallis. Bopara has 133 runs so far, Kallis 154. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan are the other players to have reache three figures for the tournament.

Other players in contention, in my book at least, are Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and the first man to reach 1000 IPL runs, Adam Gilchrist. Some of the other big hitters are due to join the tournament, the likes of Pietersen, Shaun Marsh and Brendon McCullum will have some catching up to do and will need to set the IPL alight in order to get their hands on the coveted Orange Cap.

By Miles Reucroft

If you want to see fireworks in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, keep a close eye on this Australian slugger.

Don’t let his diminutive stature fool you; this lad has power and lots of it. He’s an aggressive opening batsman with an outstanding strike rate, especially in T20’s (155.32).

The youngster’s breakthrough innings for the New South Wales Blues came against Tasmania when he hit a colossal 165* – the highest one day score ever by a Blues player.

Warner exploded onto the international scene in 2008-09, smashing 89 from 43 balls, including seven fours and six sixes, in his Twenty20 debut against South Africa at the MCG. His miraculous start came as an ever bigger shock as he became the first Australian for 132 years to be selected for his country without any first-class experience.

His rapid rise also earned him an IPL contract with Delhi Daredevils and a deal with Gray-Nicolls to use their unique two-sided bat.

Nicknamed Lloyd after Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber, there is nothing comical about Warner’s batting. The keen surfer defies logic, using his low centre of gravity to his advantage, favouring the aerial route for a lot of his shots.

Just ask fellow Aussie Shaun Tait what it’s like to bowl at him. In a Twenty20 match for New South Wales in 2009, Warner hooked a six off him that landed on the roof of the Adelaide Oval. He scored 65 that day and in the process made Phillip Hughes, considered the future of Australian batting, look nothing more than pedestrian.

Make no mistakes about it, Warner is blockbuster viewing. He occasionally turns his arm over in a part-time role as a leg spinner but his sole job in the Caribbean will be to score runs, and lots of them.

England belatedly celebrate victory in Chittagong against Bangladesh

Had the follow on been enforced on Day Three then this game would have continued along its one-sided trajectory. In batting again England allowed Bangladesh to regroup and even handed them some momentum through their late afternoon collapse. This wasn’t the killer touch that would have been displayed by most international captains.

To justify batting again by saying that it was in order to give the bowlers a rest, as Cook did, is almost to admit that a four-man bowling attack is insufficient in these sub-continental conditions. Which it is. England needed a second front-line spinner yet omitted James Tredwell. This allowed Swann to shine once more but he alone cannot carry a flimsy four-man attack into an Ashes defence at the end of the year.

On the evidence of this Test it would appear most logical to drop Michael Carberry and promote Jonathan Trott up the order to open the innings with Cook. I would think Ian Bell would slot in at number three although I’d like to see Paul Collingwood in this pivotal role. This would leave Kevin Pietersen in his favoured number four position and Bell has always enjoyed more success batting farther down the order.

Matt Prior is more than capable of batting at six and I’m sure that Swann would revel in the responsibility of batting at seven. Due to the conservative nature of this England side at present, however, I fully expect Bell to bat at three and Stuart Broad, inexplicably, to bat at seven. I would also imagine the conservatism creeping back in and the side returning to a four-man bowling unit by the end of the year. Yet if four isn’t enough against Bangladesh, it certainly won’t be enough against Australia.

How England need a new Andrew Flintoff! Swann, Broad and Tim Brsenan can all bat a bit and make for a strong tail end of any innings. England have a chance to hand Luke Wright a debut when the second Test commences on Saturday but he appears to be a long way from Test recognition. Surely if the Sussex all-rounder were to have a part to play in the next 12 months of Test cricket, he would have played here in Chittagong.

On the bright side of England’s bowling here were the performances of Steven Finn and Brsenan. Finn looks a great find and certainly has a good future ahead of him. Bresnan bowled well in the second innings and displayed excellent control of the reverse-swinging older ball. This dark art is a useful one in any bowling line-up – and Brsenan can bat.

The nagging feeling after this Test for England is that they didn’t display a ruthless instinct in grinding their opposition into the dust. They had a chance to really send out a message of intent ahead of a very important year but reneged on doing so. To allow the game into a fifth day throws the result open to chance – the weather, pitch vandalism, a miracle rear-guard stand – and suddenly a certain victory turns into an embarrassing draw. It’s almost as if England need such an occurrence to awake their ruthlessness.

Game 7: Bangalore Royal Chal. v Kings XI Punjab: Bangalore Royal Chal. by 10 RUNS or 4 WICKETS
Game 8: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings: Kolkata Knight Riders by 20 RUNS or 5 WICKETS
Game 9: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians: Mumbai Indians by 8 RUNS or 3 WICKETS
Game 10: Bangalore Royal Chal. v Rajasthan Royals: Rajasthan Royals by 15 RUNS or 4 WICKETS
Game 11: Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings: Delhi Daredevils by 25 RUNS or 5 WICKETS
Game 12: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab: Deccan Chargers by 25 RUNS or 5 WICKETS

It’s not too late to join the game – here are the details again:

Tournament: IPL 2010
Link: www.sportguru.co.uk/ipl
Code: fleabile

Graham Swann will be England's main threat on Day Five

Had England put the hosts back into bat for the final 36 overs on Sunday evening then this game would be over and this article would be a review. To make matters worse for England, they were unable to take a Bangladeshi wicket in the final session of Day Four, meaning that they still need five wickets to complete the expected victory tomorrow. Mushfiqur and Siddique blocked out superbly in the final session on a wicket that appears to, if anything, be getting flatter as this games drags on. Siddique fought through for a gritty half century, ending the day on 68* with partner Mushfiqur nicely poised on 47* over night.

England will be hoping for early inroads tomorrow morning and will be looking to Graham Swann as their main source of wickets. Tim Bresnan displayed excellent control of a reverse-swinging ball in the middle session and claimed two wickets, and debutant Steven Finn produced an absolute jaffer to dismiss Imrul Kayes on the stroke of lunch. The ball angled across the left hander, drew the stroke outside off-stump and reared up off this lifeless surface onto the outside edge and into the gloves of Matt Prior. In Finn, England have clearly unearthed a player with great potential – it will be interesting to see how he copes against sterner opposition.

It is the lack of a second spinner that is the main concern for England. The pitch is offering some assistance to Swann and James Tredwell, who took a stunning catch on Saturday from the bowling of Swann, would surely have impacted upon the game with the ball had he been chosen. Instead, the part-time off-breaks of Kevin Pietersen have been utilised by Cook. Jonathan Trott, too, found himself chipping in with a couple of overs. If a four man attack is insufficient against this weak Bangladesh side, the policy must surely be reviewed with much stiffer tests to come in the form of Pakistan and Australia this year. Five bowlers, please.

It’s a great shame that this game will still be going tomorrow. The IPL has commenced and there has been some impressive cricket on display. This Test match world has offered an appallingly one-sided contest that England are doing there best to throw away. At times, this game has made the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain this weekend look exciting. If you are tuning in to the ‘action’ tomorrow, best of luck to you. The Jeremy Kyle show has been a better option most mornings…

By Miles Reucroft

The whole tournament is something of a lottery, but I’ve been doing a bit of research, eyeing up the big names playing for each team, and making my best guesses as to what will happen.

Here are my IPL predictions for Round 1:

Game 1: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders: Deccan Chargers by 13 RUNS or 2 WICKETS
Game 2: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals: Mumbai Indians by 10 RUNS or 3 WICKETS
Game 3: Kings XI Punjab v Delhi Daredevils: Delhi Daredevils by 8 RUNS or 2 WICKETS
Game 4: Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Chal.: Bangalore Royal Chal. by 7 RUNS or 2 WICKETS
Game 5: Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers: Chennai Super Kings by 12 RUNS or 3 WICKETS
Game 6: Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils: Delhi Daredevils by 17 RUNS or 4 WICKETS

Feel free to join our league on SportGuru – the pool code is fleabile.

Alastair Cook is pointing the way for England

Cook himself led the England march, batting through the first day with aplomb to finish on 158*. He had pushed the Bangladeshi bowling attack to its inconsiderable limits and even fired off two collectors’ items sixes – he now has four in Test cricket. Shakib was forced into using eight different bowlers on the first day and none of them really posed England any threat.

England handed debuts to Michael Carberry and Steven Finn as they opted for a four man bowling attack as they did in South Africa. Why they chose to do this is unclear – They only lost three wickets here today and there seems no urgent need for the extra batsman. The part-time off-breaks of Kevin Pietersen will surely utilised when it comes to bowling at the Bangladeshi’s, although James Tredwell can consider himself hugely unfortunate not to have been afforded a Test debut following a sterling effort against Bangadesh A. Thankfully for Pietersen, however, he has made the headlines for his work with the bat.

Yes he was dismissed by a slow left-armer (again) but he had seemingly cleared his head of the demons that had blighted his efforts so far on this tour to carve out a gutsy 99. That he failed to reach a richly deserved century was a travesty. It only takes one mistake and your number is up – and so it proved. Uncharacteristically for Pietersen he had decided to nudge his way towards three-figures once in the 90s, rather than flay the ball to the boundary to reach the landmark in a blaze of glory. A pre-determined shot into the on-side wasn’t on and Pietersen tripped over himself attempting to glide Abdur Razzak down to third man. The ball passed the outside edge and crashed into middle and off stumps. A dejected Pietersen had to trudge off knowing that a huge score had been there for the taking. It was good to see him back to his imperious best at times here though – even if it was against a lacklustre Bangladesh attack.

Carberry played some sumptuous strokes on his way to a debut score of 30 before misjudging a sweep against Mahmudullah to be trapped lbw in front of his off stump. He had just been given a life-line by wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim who dropped him off the same bowler, but Carberry couldn’t cash in, never looking overly comfortable against the spinners. A big debut score was missed out on.

Jonathan Trott took over from Carberry and set about constructing a careful innings worth 39 runs to the England cause. He was dismissed in unusual circumstances, being given out caught off his helmet. His disappointment was tangible. It was a rare ball that bounced from Rubel Hossain and Trott missed the attempted hook stroke in front of his face. The ball cannoned off his helmet and looped into the hands of the keeper. A muffled appeal saw umpire Tony Hill raise his index finger skywards, much to the chagrin of Trott. There are no referrals to be had here, unfortunately for Trott.

And so the focus falls on Captain Cook. He became the fifth England player to score a century on his debut as captain, following in the footsteps of Archie MacLaren, Allan Lamb, Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen. He hardly put a foot wrong and will be looking forward to batting again tomorrow, especially if the pitch flattens out across days two and three before breaking up as is being predicted by the local experts.

A maiden double ton for Cook, and for any Englishman against Bangladesh, beckons. Paul Collingwood will be with him on 32 and England will surely only have to bat once in this game. A brilliant day for Cook and England – an utterly miserable one for Shakib and Bangladesh. They will need to sharpen up their oft-woeful fielding and try to make runs harder to come by for the visitors.

By Miles Reucroft