Suresh Raina won't be under pressure: Gujarat Lions owner

[[JUGRAJ SINGH]]

Keshav Bansal, the owner of Gujarat Lions, is confident of Suresh Raina's track record and is hopeful that he will turn his recent poor form around in the Indian Premier League. The left-hander scored just 41 runs in the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 at an average of 10.25.

Speaking at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot on Monday (April 4), Bansal said: "Every player faces this problem in their careers. Raina is a matured cricketer and I don't think that he would be under pressure for leading a side first time in IPL. Every player remains under pressure to perform well and Raina has very good track record. Our focus is to provide a suitable atmosphere to players can perform well."

He also claimed that his new franchise got the right players they were looking for. "We have a strong core team. We worked hard on structure draft that was submitted to the Indian Premier League (IPL) to pick up players and I am satisfied that I managed to get the players which I wanted in my team," he said. "We wanted to make a balanced team with experience and talent and I am happy that we could manage to get the experience and talented cricketers."

He hailed the five players who were picked in the draft prior to the auction, hailing them as 'great players'. "Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo are all great players and have done well for their respective countries and I am happy that these players would play from Gujarat Lions," he said.

Gujarat will take on Kings XI Punjab in their first game of the season on April 11 (Monday) in Mohali.