Suresh Raina rested for fifth ODI against Sri Lanka

Ranchi, Nov 15 (IANS) India's middle-order batsman Suresh Raina was rested for the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka, the team's assistant coach Sanjay Bangar said Saturday.

"Everybody has been getting opportunities more or less. For tomorrow's game we have rested Suresh (Raina), so the boys who have missed out so far, have a very good chance to play," Bangar was quoted as saying by bcci.tv.

The decision to rest Raina was made to open up opportunities for the fringe players in the squad and also keeping in mind India's lengthy tour of Australia, starting with the Test series and culminating in the 2015 ODI World Cup, he said.

The Test series has been on the team's mind even as they focus on inflicting a series whitewash on Sri Lanka.

"We have been preparing for the longer format simultaneously as some players who are part of the Test squad are also with this team. We have been practicing with the Test series in mind," the 42-year-old said, ahead of the fifth ODI here Sunday.

He pointed that some of the selection and strategising in this series have been done keeping in mind the conditions that the team will face in the World Cup.

He said it was decided that the openers would look to get the team off to a solid start and focus on keeping wickets in hand.

"We spoke about the importance of keeping as many wickets in hand as possible for the latter half of the innings," Bangar said.

"That is the conscious effort we have made, especially keeping in mind that we have two new balls and the conditions that we expect to face in Australia."

He said the focus is on keeping the pacers fresh by rotating and resting them whenever possible.

"There is a lot of rotation happening and bowlers who have played a lot in the recent past, people like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, have been given rest. This is with the intention of having an all-fit pace attack in Australia," the former India player said.

"The preparations have been spot on and the workload is monitored properly. We have probably the best seam attack going to Australia in years now."

He expressed satisfaction with the team's performance, saying the boys have managed to achieve the goals set for them.

"There have been a lot of positives that have emerged. Earlier we thought there are not many spinners around. Here we see that there are four of five of them in contention," the former all-rounder said.

"Umesh (Yadav) has been a big plus and he has improved a lot as the matches have progressed. He has more control now and is giving us wickets in the initial overs, which so crucial and is helping the team's cause."

He stressed on the return to form of the frontline batsman as the reason behind India's recent impressive ODI form.

"One major reason why we have done so well in the matches after the England series is that a lot of our batmen have managed to get big scores. We have already seen seven hundreds being scored and they're all from different batsmen. So, it's great that everybody is chipping in with these vital contributions," Bangar concluded.