I Don’t Agree With MSK Prasad’s Explanation On Ambati Rayudu’s Non-Inclusion, Says Former India Captain Mohammad Azharuddin
Jul 23, 2019 at 11:26 AM
Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin has had his say on the ongoing Ambati Rayudu issue and has opined that he does not agree with MSK Prasad‘s explanation on Rayudu’s non-inclusion in the World Cup squad.
“When a person is standing by, I feel the standby person should be picked, if any replacement is needed. If you are a selector, you can overrule captain and coach. You can put your foot down and say, ‘no, we will send this player’. When I was captain, I also wanted some players but the selectors said no. It happens. You are not selected, it is very sad. It happened like that. But, his (Prasad’s) explanation, I don’t agree with it,” Azharuddin said in Hyderabad.
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While speaking after the team selection for West Indies series, chief selector MSK Prasad had explained rationals behind keeping Rayudu out. As per him, the team management had requested a backup opener after Vijay Shankar got injured, hence they chose Mayank Agarwal who was also not in the standby list.
Rayudu, on the other hand, was one of the standby players. He was highly expected to be named in the squad for World Cup 2019 but was pipped by Vijay Shankar. After being ignored twice, Rayudu called it all quits and retired from all forms of cricket. He will also not be playing the Indian Premier League (IPL).
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While the selection panel may have reasoned out a legit reason for Rayudu’s non-inclusion, it is also a fact that Rayudu’s tweet would have been one of the reasons behind his non-inclusion in the squad. The Hyderabad batsman had taken a dig at the Indian selection panel with his 3-D tweet.
Rayudu was tipped to be number four batsman for the World Cup by captain Virat Kohli himself but poor form prior to Word Cup saw him being dropped. Rayudu had made his comeback to the Indian team after a great run in IPL 2018 but could not make it to the World Cup squad.
India qualified for the second round of the tournament with ease but failed to defeat New Zealand in the semi-final of the tournament as Men in Blue failed to chase down a target of 240.
Post World Cup, selectors rung changes as Dinesh Karthik has been dropped from the squad while Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey are back in the scheme of things going ahead. MS Dhoni was granted leave and an update regarding his future is expected to come out soon.