Was Raina's omission in Tests a blunder, after his swashbucking innings in the 2nd ODI?

Nice question © If you see the Indian Test side except for Gambhir/Dhawan, there was hardly any left hander in the team…Vijay/Rahane/Pujara/Kohli/Dhoni/Binny/Bhuvi/Aaron/Pankaj being notable so it was so easy for the English bowlers to target one side of the pitch & cause errors. This is one of the major blunders by India, somewhere you have to make it doubly difficult for the opposition & blunt their attack strategy. This is a schoolboy error & it doesn't cost much, just a matter of proper team selection. Not a single left hander among the middle order??

But you have struck a nerve here, Raina's innings & body language shows some confidence which could have been infectious to his team mates. By the end of the Rose Bowl Test at Southampton, India were in a mental shambles for reasons that they didn't know how to defend a lead & unusually worried how to avoid a colossal loss!

I'd say that both Raina, Rayudu & Rohit Sharma could have hustled & pushed others for their places having them looking over their shoulders. Kohli/Vijay/Rahane/Pujara should have been under intensive scrutiny after the first 3 Tests

There is big difference being Test Player and ODI Player. Raina is best suited only for limited over cricket i.e. ODI and T20, not for Test format. Though he can play well too but there are already many good test players currently. Glad to see Raina making his first 100 outside sub-continent.

No, he played well in an ODI & I am glad that he scored those runs, as he is suspect to the moving & short balls. Raina & Yuvraj were given good chances to establish themselves at no.6 but both failed. Now that chance has gone to Rahane, who has grabbed it with hands. Don't see Raina or Yuvy making a Test comeback anytime soon.

Also hope that Raina can continue with this form, as he can help the weakened middle order, with W.C. 2015 just 6 months away & loads of cricket to be played till then. Good luck to him.

There is a big difference between Test cricket and ODI. In a ODI players can bat quickly but in a test you have to take time to play.

You said it yourself, a swashbuckling ODI innings. A good ODI innings doesn't transfer over to the test arena.

yes

No.