Ambassador Rayudu, a middle-class striker, has announced his resignation from all sorts of cricket after being expelled from the India squad for the 2019 Men’s ICC Cricket World Cup.
Rayudu, who played for India in the home series against Australia last March, decided to hang up his boots on Wednesday, July 3rd. The change took place after he was again overlooked for the World Cup, when the Indian selection called the original 15-man team for the tournament and after Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar were injured.
Although he was one of the BCCI’s reserves for the tournament, the BCCI selectors replaced Dhawan with Rishabh Pant and Vijay with Karnataka batsman Mayank Agarwal.
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In a letter addressed to the Hyderabad Cricket Association, which was forwarded to the BCCI, Rayudu said: “I would like to draw your attention to the fact that I have decided to withdraw from the sport and to withdraw from all forms and stages of the sport I would like to take this opportunity to thank the BCCI and all state associations I represent, including Hyderabad, Baroda, Andhra and Vidharbha.
What an awesome comeback by csk…. enjoyed every bit of my time in yellow.. best team ever… @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/e1unoplk3j
— Ambati Rayudu (@RayuduAmbati) May 29, 2018
“I would also like to thank the two IPL companies MI [Mumbai Indians] and CSK [Chennai Super Kings] for their support, it was an honor and a privilege to represent our country and I would like to thank the captains, which I played under – MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and especially Virat Kohli, who had always shown great faith in me throughout my career in the Indian team.
“It has been a wonderful journey to play the sport and to learn from every ups and downs that it has brought on different levels over the past 25 years, and finally to thank my family and all the well-wishers who have accompanied me everywhere wonderful journey. “
Rayudu, who led India at the 2004 ICC U19 Worlds Cricket Championships, which was also attended by future international cricketers Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa, made his international debut in the away ODI series against Zimbabwe in 2013 yet when he successfully toured England in 2014, he made a long entry into the ODI team.
He played in the run up to the 2015 World Cup 14 games and was eventually elected to the 15-member squad, but got in the XI game no chance.
Rayudu became an irregular member of the national team, but continued to progress in first-class cricket and IPL, where he was part of Mumbai’s victory campaigns in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Later, he came on as substitute Chennai for the 2018 season, where he motivated the team led by MS Dhoni with 602 runs for the third time to win the title.
These exploits earned him a place in the Asian Cup squad in the UAE and later in the home series against the West Indies, where he received the approval of his captain Virat Kohli, who described him as the most suitable for the much-discussed position No. 4.
“Rayudu has seized his chance with both hands, we need to support him until the 2019 World Cup, he reads the game well and we are glad that someone beats Intelligent on 4th place,” Kohli had said after Rayudu’s 81-ball century in the fourth ODI against the West Indies in October 2018. “
A later loss of form in the home series against Australia, however, led to his exclusion from the Indian World Cup team.
Rayudu scored 1,694 runs in 55 ODIs, averaging 47.06 at six hundred. He played only six T20Is in which he completed 42 runs, but got no chance to represent India in the test cricket.
