The stylish batsman from Andhra, who played for Baroda and Hyderabad in domestic cricket before making it to the Indian National Cricket Team Ambati Rayudu has called curtains on his International career. The announcement was made after the world cup snub by the Indian selectors.
Rayudu was in the stand-by list for the World Cup but after injuries to Shikhar Dhawan and Shankar, he failed to board the flight as the selectors and the team management picked Rishabh Pant and Agarwal as replacements.
The move comes after Rayudu was snubbed by the Indian team management who preferred Mayank Agarwal as a replacement for an injured Vijay Shankar in the World Cup squad.
Ambati Rayudu was the official standby:
The last couple of years have seen a dramatic change in the life of Ambati Rayudu. After helping Hyderabad reach Semifinals in Vijay Hazare in 2017-18, he had a sensational run for Chennai Super Kings.
Ambati Rayudu ended up as the 4th highest run-getter of the tournament and the highest for CSK. Rayudu scored 602 runs at an average of 43 and at an S/R of 149.75. He struck three fifties and also hit his maiden Twenty20 ton.
Rayudu’s flexibility in the CSK line-up helped the selectors to give him a call-up in the ODI format of the game. But, he failed in the yo-yo test, which saw Suresh Raina replace him. However, Rayudu passed it to seal a spot in the playing XI and got the continuous back-up from the selectors.
But, the decision to leave him out by the selectors for World Cup has dented him personally. Though he was the official standby, selectors asked Pant and Mayank Agarwal to replace him, which would have played a key role in his retirement call.
In the 50 ODI innings that he has played, Rayudu scored 1694 runs at an average of 47.05 with a top score of 124*. He has hit three centuries and 10 fifties and has a strike rate of 79.04. In the five T20Is innings that he has played, he has scored 42 runs at an average of 10.50.