ICC World Cup: Raina wants to emulate Yuvraj's 2011 WC exploits

Melbourne His confidence on a high after an impressive display against Pakistan in Indias World Cup opener allrounder Suresh Raina wants to fill in the shoes ofYuvraj Singh the hero of 2011 edition in the ongoing showpiece event being jointly hosted by Australia and New ZealandSuresh RainaComing out to bat at crucial number four position lefthanded Raina smashed 74 off just 56 deliveries to help India register a comfortable 76 runs win over archrivals Pakistan in their opening Pool B match at Adelaide on SundayTalking about his innings 28yearold Raina credited 2011 World Cup manofthetournament Yuvraj and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his success You need to follow your instincts which I have learnt from Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni I have always batted lower down the order and in the previous World Cup when I didnt play the bulk of the matches I observed Yuvi and saw how he used to finish games for the side he saidI want to play Yuvraj Singhs role in this World Cup I want to field bowl and bat well Raina told bccitv I will look to be dominant when required and at the same time play sensible cricket by rotating the strike and complement the partner at the other endI love to play straight and have an array of scoring options There will be phases when you are not scoring against particular bowlers and you need to play sensible at that time he added referring to his knock against Pakistan Raina said the win against Pakistan was the muchneeded fillip for India who went through a torrid time in Australia prior to the World CupGames against Pakistan are always pressure games It is a different feeling to play against Pakistan This is my second World Cup and the second World Cup game against Pakistan We won it in 2011 and now I have played against them in 2015 and won it again he said I hope we maintain this record against them We have gotthe start that we were looking for this World Cup I hope we do well in the coming matches Raina saidWe have not had the best of times in Australia over the last three months but we showed a lot of intensity in the warmup games We had a very good meeting with MS Dhoni where he spoke to each and every player of the team about their roles and responsibilities in the tournamentIt was a masterstroke by the captain to walk out to each player and make them understand their roles It was followed by the rest of the management giving us pointers about the game and it was a good touch added to our daily regime he addedAdmitting that he was a little bit nervous before going out to bat against Pakistan Raina said running between the wickets might just play a crucial role in the big Australian grounds in this World Cup I have to accept I was nervous in the morning before the matchBut before walking out to bat I had in the back of the mind that I had scored an unbeaten 36 in the last WC game against Pakistan in Mohali I was confident about my game since I had played Wahab Riaz Mohammad Irfan and Shahid Afridi before in India he saidRunning between the wickets is going to be crucial this World Cup since the grounds are bigger You need to work the spinners into the gaps and look for scoring at a good rate Also it really helps having a good runner at the end We werent getting the boundaries frequently but because of the strike rotation we managed to get 5 to 6 runs every overI will look to be dominant when required and at the same time play sensible cricket by rotating the strike and complement the partner at the other end I love to playstraight and have an array of scoring options There will be phases when you are not scoring against particular bowlers and you need to play sensible at that time Raina added