Indian batsman Suresh Raina, who was brought back into the ODI side after a gap of one year, has been ruled out of the first ODI against New Zealand due to viral fever.
“The BCCI Medical team has confirmed that Suresh Raina, who is recovering from a bout of viral fever, is ruled out of the first ODI against New Zealand. There will be no replacement in the team,” the BCCI said in a statement.
Raina was looking forward to feature in his first ODI since October 2015. The opening match of the five-ODI series will be played in Dharamsala on October 16. India have already swept the Test series 3-0.
The southpaw was dropped for the ODIs in Australia and the limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year besides the two-match T20 series against the West Indies in USA.
He has not had time in the middle since the Duleep Trophy where his scores read 52, 35 and 90.
Raina led Uttar Pradesh in the team’s Ranji Trophy opener against Madhya Pradesh last week but did not come out to bat. Uttar Pradesh ended up suffering an innings and 64 run defeat at the hands of Madhya Pradesh.