Ambati Rayudu, India's middle-order batsman has announced its retirement from all forms of cricket today. He has written to BCCI regarding his retirement announcement.
The move came after Mayank Agarwal was called instead of him to London for World Cup 2019 as a replacement of Vijay Shankar. Rayudu was in the standby list for World Cup 2019. But Rishabh Pant and Agarwal were chosen to represent India ahead of him in the tournament.
"After the Champions Trophy, we tried a lot of middle order batsmen, which includes Karthik as well. We gave Rayudu many chances, but Shankar gives us the ability with the three dimensions (bowling, batting, fielding). If the conditions are suitable, he can come in as an all-rounder. Shankar is a batsman who can bowl, we are looking to play him at number four," chief-selector MSK Prasad had said while announcing the Indian squad.
After the World Cup snub, Rayudu had tweeted "Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup". Rayudu was a regular member of the Indian squad for the past one year and averaged 47.05 in the ODI format. The 33-year-old was the team's number four batsman since the Asia Cup last year. He had scored one century and four half-centuries since then.
HE even scored 113-ball 90 in New Zealand earlier this year paving the way for India's victory. But he fell off the wagon of late as he was not able to replicate his good performances in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia. He made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2013 and played his last one against Australia in Ranchi in January, earlier this year. He played 55 ODIs and 6 T20s. He could not make his Test debut.
Earlier, he had announced his retirement from the First Class Cricket in order to focus on the Limited overs matches like ODIs and T20s.
