Ambati Rayudu’s professional Indian cricket career ended on a high note. He helped the Chennai Super Kings win their fifth IPL title with a performance of 19 runs off 8 balls in the final against the Gujarat Titans. Rayudu won his sixth IPL title when CSK won. He won three titles with the Mumbai Indians (in 2013, 2015, and 2017) and three titles with CSK (in 2018, 2021, and 2023).
After Ambati Rayudu retired, India’s previous head coach, Anil Kumble, said that leaving him out of the 2019 ODI World Cup was a “huge mistake.” Notably, the 37-year-old wasn’t picked for the team for the big event, even though India’s captain, Virat Kohli, thought he was the best choice for India’s No. 4 batting spot.
“Ambati Rayudu should have been in the World Cup in 2019. Yes, there is no question about it. It was a big mistake. You worked with him for a long time to get him ready for that job, but now his name is gone from the squad.
Still, it was strange,” Anil Kumble said on Jio Cinema.
Instead of Rayudu, the team management chose Vijay Shankar, who they said could play in three different ways. Even though Shankar and Shikhar Dhawan got hurt during the event, he was not named as a replacement. Instead, Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal were added to the team.
Virat Kohli had faith in Rayudu before the World Cup.
In 2018, India’s leader Virat Kohli said that Ambati Rayudu was India’s answer to the number 4 spot. From September 2018 to March 2019, he was allowed to hit for six months. During that six-month time, he played in 21 ODIs and did pretty well, scoring 639 runs, including one hundred and four fifties.
Rayudu took to Twitter to show how upset he was about not making the team. He wrote, “Just ordered a new set of 3D glasses to watch the World Cup.”
Rayudu even said he was leaving international cricket for a short time before changing his mind. Rayudu was disappointed that he never got to play for India again, and he ended his career after only 55 ODIs and six T20Is.
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