Raina slams Maharashtra tactics, questions Reeve`s credibility

Pune: Uttar Pradesh skipper Suresh Raina on Sunday hit out at Dermot Reeve, the newly-appointed Maharashtra coach, for employing defensive tactics in their ongoing Ranji Trophy match and also questioned the former England player`s credibility as a coach.

"They have a foreign coach and he needs to teach good things to youngsters. I am not against anyone but at the same time, he is earning Rs 30-40 lakh per season, so he needs to teach youngsters in a good way. "Two-and-a-half days. We can also do the same when they come to play against us next time, but we all have to keep on improving our cricket," Raina was quoted as saying by `cricinfo`. Maharashtra batted for 186 overs overs to set Uttar Pradesh a target of 765 to attain the first-innings lead at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium here. In reply, UP finished the penultimate day on 287 for one in reply to Maharashtra`s 764 for six declared. Earlier in the day, BCCI chief curator Daljit Singh had also looked unhappy with 700 runs being scored by a team on the Pune wicket. Raina minced no words in criticising the Maharashtra`s tactics. "I am unhappy with the way they have approached the game. Perhaps they were scared of us. (Kedar) Jadhav played well and the captain (Rohit Motwani) as well but they needed to give us time to chase well. "If they really want to achieve their goal of doing well in the Ranji Trophy, there`s no point in batting for almost two-and-a-half days and asking us to chase 765. But still we managed to reach almost 300 today. You might see something different from the UP team tomorrow," Raina said. "I am not happy with these tactics. We won against Delhi and when we came here - this is their first game - I thought they would try and improve on where they had left last season. But they were safe, they were too defensive. Hopefully they will improve over the next couple of games," he added. Raina was equally critical of the pitch. "No bounce, no pace, no spin. There is literally nothing in it for the bowlers. They work so hard on their game, there has to be something in it for them. There are some who need to pick a lot of wickets in order to come back into the Indian team but they can`t do anything about it when you have such wickets." PTI