Ambati Rayudu was ignored for selection when the original 15-member India squad was announced of the World Cup 2019. However, the BCCI selectors had said he was among the standby players including Rishabh Pant
Bengaluru: Snubbed for selection for the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019, India’s middle order batsman Ambati Rayudu decided to retire from all forms of cricket on Wednesday (July 3).
Also read: MS Dhoni to retire after World Cup 2019?
The 33-year-old Rayudu quit cricket today, according to Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) media advisory.
“I have come to the decision to step away from the sport and retire from all forms and levels of the game,” Rayudu informed the Board. “It has been a wonderful journey of playing the sport and learning from every up and down it brought upon for the last 25 years at various different levels,” he stated.
Also read: With an eye on World Cup, Rayudu retires from first-class cricket
He thanked BCCI, the captains he has played under and various state associations that he represented during his long career. “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the BCCI and all the state associations that I have represented which include Hyderabad, Baroda, Andhra and Vidarbha. I also would like to thank the two IPL franchises Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings for their support.
BCCI congratulates Rayudu on a successful journey and for his contribution to Indian Cricket, the Board said.
Rayudu was ignored for selection when the original 15-member India squad was announced of the World Cup 2019. However, the BCCI selectors had said he was among the standby players including Rishabh Pant.
Indian middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, he has written to BCCI pic.twitter.com/v4Wf3fwZ5i
— ANI (@ANI)But the MSK Prasad-led selection panel snubbed Rayudu twice after injuries to Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar. First, they replaced Dhawan with Pant while for Shankar, they called up Mayank Agarwal, who is yet to play ODIs.
In November last year, Rayudu had retired from first-class cricket hoping to prolong his limited-overs career with an eye on the World Cup. After getting chances at the number four position in ODIs, Rayudu had even won the confidence of captain Virat Kohli. However, with repeated failures later, he fell out of the team.
"This is to inform that Ambati Rayudu, Hyderabad captain and member of the India ODI team, has decided to retire from longer version of the game including Ranji Trophy (multi day) to focus on limited overs cricket and T20 cricket," Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) had stated in November 2018.
Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup 😉😋..
— Ambati Rayudu (@RayuduAmbati)After the World Cup selection, Rayudu posted a controversial tweet where he said he had “ordered” 3D glasses to watch the ICC showpiece event. This was looked at an apparent dig at the selectors as Prasad had called Shankar three-dimensional player. It was widely believed that Shankar pipped Rayudu to the last spot in the World Cup squad.
Rayudu was part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad that reached the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2019). He played 55 ODIs and six T20Is for India, scoring 1,694 and 42 runs respectively. He hit three tons and 10 half centuries in ODIs.
Yesterday (July 2), Iceland Cricket, in a tweet, offered Rayudu to join them. "...come join us Ambati. We love the Rayudu things," it had tweeted.
Agarwal has three professional wickets at 72.33 so at least can put away his 3D glasses now. He will only need normal glasses to read the document we have prepared for him. Come join us Ambati. We love the Rayudu things. pic.twitter.com/L6XAefKWHw
— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket)Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.