A magnificent cricketer, 33-year old Ambati Rayudu declared in an official statement that he has retired from all forms of cricket. Declared the preferred No.4 batsman by captain Virat Kohli not many months ago, Rayudu was ignored for Vijay Shankar in India’s final squad for the big event. He was disheartened that out of the India’s 15-man World Cup 2019 squad initially and didn’t get a call up despite injuries to two players, Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar.
According to a BCCI official, Ambati Rayudu has communicated with the board, though a formal announcement is yet to be made.
“We received his mail in the morning. He did not specify why he is retiring. It was a pretty straightforward e-mail in which he thanked all the captains he played (under) and also the BCCI,” Said the BCCI official.
He has to his credit, played 55 ODIs for India, scoring 1694 runs at an average of 47.05. The player who could never break into the Test team, was in the spotlight before the World Cup.
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Ambati has played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he has scored 3,300 runs in 147 matches at an average of 28.7. He has scored 18 half-centuries and a hundred in his IPL career, with a highest score of 100. Besides, he has represented Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indian in the IPL.
In T20 International cricket, Rayudu has scored 42 runs in six matches at a dismal average of 10.5.
Rayudu earned the reputation of being a temperamental player owing to several confrontations with fellow cricketers and even match officials in the domestic circuit.