Anurag Kumar
It was a fairytale ending for Ambati Rayudu, who concluded his IPL tenure by winning his sixth championship, the third for Chennai Super Kings. Rayudu, one of the genuine workhorses in Indian cricket, is thought to have underachieved in his career with India. Despite having participated in 55 ODIs and six T20Is for India, Rayudu was unable to secure a permanent spot in the Playing XI. Rayudu’s most famous and talked-about run with Team India occurred in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup, when India urgently needed a No. 4 batter and Rayudu stepped up.
Between September 2018 and March 2019, Rayudu became India’s No. 4 batting solution. Rayudu scored 639 runs in 21 ODIs over a six-month span, including one century and four fifties, following his participation in the 2018 IPL, where he attained his T20 batting peak by smashing 602 runs. And while these weren’t terrible figures by any stretch of the imagination, Rayudu was surprisingly left out of India’s World Cup squad for England. They instead proceeded with KL Rahul as their No. 4 and brought in all-rounder Vijay Shankar based on his IPL performances that year – an experiment whose strata unraveled as the tournament progressed.
Kumble calls Rayudu’s 2019 World Cup drop a blunder
Anil Kumble, a legend of Indian bowling, considers it a “mistake” that Rayudu did not board the flight to England four years after that controversial decision. Rayudu had just ended a magnificent career. After six months of preparation, the former India coach believes it was a major mistake for then-captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri to leave Rayudu off the team at the last minute.
ALSO READ :Jadeja Last Ball 4,CSK Win 5th IPL Trophy
“Rayudu ought to have participated in the 2019 World Cup. Yes, there is no question about it. It was a monumental error. You spent so much time preparing him for this role, yet his name suddenly vanishes from the squad. It was nonetheless startling,” Kumble said on Jio Cinema when the IPL 2023 final was postponed due to rain following the Gujarat Titans’ innings.
What happened to Rayudu after 2019 World Cup omission?
The decision to exclude Rayudu had significant repercussions. Rayudu tweeted, “Just ordered a new pair of 3D glasses to watch the World Cup” in response to former chief selector MSK Prasad’s remark that “Vijay Shankar is a 3D (3-dimensional) player.” Rayudu even momentarily announced his retirement during India’s World Cup campaign, before retracting the statement. Rayudu never played for India again, which will go down in history as one of the most enigmatic conclusions to an international career.
