The big news: Raina’s comeback has to wait

Suresh Raina’s comeback into the Indian One-Day squad will have to be put on hold at the Uttar Pradesh captain was battling viral fever. Raina was ruled out of the first India-New Zealand One-Day match at Dharamsala on Sunday because he is yet to recover from the illness.

Raina last played an ODI back in October 2015 and was subsequently dropped from the 50-over squad after a poor run with the bat. He was recalled for the first three matches of the series against New Zealand. The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed the 30-year-old's absence in a press release: "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 of the Paytm ODI Trophy against New Zealand"

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  1. Pakistan were at their dominating best as they thrashed the West Indies bowlers all around the park in the first Test, which is a day/night match, in Dubai on Thursday. Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who was captaining the country’s historic 400th Test, won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch tailor-made for batsmen. Pakistan ended the day/night on 279/1 with Azhar Ali unbeaten on 146.
  2. South Africa’s Faf du Plessis has urged fans to relax after there was unrest of sorts when the government ordered the team to field a minimum of six players of colour. "People will relax now and see that it's not that bad. People were expecting big changes and big defeats, but now people can relax and see there is enough talent, no matter what colour you are," Du Plessis said. "Our cricket is in a healthy state. People can be confident that even with those targets, we are a force to be reckoned with."
  3. The England team’s assistant coach Paul Farbrace said that Eoin Morgan will return to captain the limited-overs squad against India next month. Morgan had chosen to miss England's tour of Bangladesh because of security concerns. "Morgs is the leader, but it's been great that Jos has had the experience," Farbrace said. "He will definitely be captain in India. There can't be any way around it. He deserves it." 
  4. The West Indies selection committee decided to call in batsman Shai Hope and all-rounder Rovman Powell for next month's ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe. The selectors decided to drop Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin. The duo were the only casualties from the squad that were beaten 3-0 by Pakistan in the ODIs last month.
  5. Father of cricketer Phillip Hughes slammed the Sydney Cricket Ground as an "unsafe workplace", saying his son was targeted by bowlers via sledging and illegal bouncers two days before his death. Hughes's father Greg told umpires during the November 2014 match that they were ignoring the two-bouncer limit and the sledging directed at his son Phillip, The Australian reported. 
  6. The BCCI will meet in Delhi on Saturday in a meeting organised to discuss the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee. However, most of the members are going to oppose the reforms suggested by the committee in the Special General Meeting (SGM). The Supreme Court is set to pass its order on the matter on October 17.