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Former India batter Ambati Rayudu has made a stunning declaration regarding his cricket career. Rayudu recently declared that he would, in fact, give up his 6 IPL titles just to play in the World Cup once.
Rayudu's comment came during a discussion panel on ESPNCricinfo. Rayudu has had a storied career in both domestic and international cricket ever since he burst onto the scene in the early 2000s.
Ambati Rayudu's IPL and international career
Rayudu first started playing domestic cricket in 2002 and burst into the news with a 177 against England in the Under-19 ODIs that year. In 2004, he captained India to the semifinals of the 2004 Under-19 World Cup.
Rayudu was always known as a hothead with a habit of running into the umpires, but his first real controversy came in 2007 when he played in the Indian Cricket League. The league and all those associated with it were banned by the BCCI, and hence, Rayudu couldn't start his IPL career until 2010.
Rayudu joined the Mumbai Indians that year and stayed until 2017. He won three trophies with that franchise - in 2013, 2015, and 2017.
In 2018, he switched to the Chennai Super Kings and scored more than 600 runs in CSK's IPL title win that year. He stayed at CSK until his retirement in 2023 and won the title twice more, in 2021 and 2023.
Rayudu is one of only two players to win six IPL trophies. The only other one is Rohit Sharma, who won the IPL once with the Deccan Chargers in 2009, and five times with MI. Rohit was MI's captain in all four years.
But Rayudu never played for India in a World Cup. He played 55 ODIs between 2013 and 2019 and 6 T20Is between 2014 and 2016 for India.
He wasn't in India's 2016 T20 World Cup squad. In 2015, he was selected for the ODI World Cup but did not get a game as India lost the semifinal to Australia.
In 2019, he was trusted for a long time to take over at the No. 4 position in India, but was controversially dropped right before the tournament in favour of the recently retired Vijay Shankar.
In domestic cricket, Rayudu represented Andhra Pradesh, Baroda, Hyderabad, and Vidarbha.
"I would give anything to play a World Cup game" - Rayudu
During a panel discussion on ESPNCricinfo, Rayudu was asked about his experience of being a six-time IPL champion and whether he would trade those trophies for a World Cup.
Former Australia captain Aaron Finch was also sitting on the panel alongside him and asked this question.
"No, I would trade that [six IPL trophies] to get a game in the World Cup," Rayudu responded.
Aaron Finch amazed by Ambati Rayudu
Finch, who was on the same panel show, expressed his amazement at Rayudu being crowned an IPL winner six times.
"Six times, that's incredible. Every time it comes up on the screen, when it says Ambati Rayudu, six-time IPL champion. That blows my mind. That's incredible," Finch said.
"That is crazy, in the hardest domestic competition in the world, to be there across a couple of different franchises. Well done, mate," he added.
Rayudu responded that he was lucky to be a part of two strong teams that won multiple titles in the tournament, a position that he has maintained before.
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