Ambati Rayudu Retires From Red-Ball Cricket
Updated - 04 Nov 2018, 02:13 AM
Ambati Rayudu has decided to bring down curtains on his red-ball career, the Hyderabad Cricket Association announced on Saturday.
“Hyderabad Captain and Member of India ODI team has decided to retire from longer version of the game including Ranji Trophy (multi-day) to focus on limited overs cricket and T20 cricket. He will continue to play international and domestic matches of shorter version. He has thanked BCCI, Hyderabad Cricket Association, Andhra Cricket Association, Baroda Cricket Association and Vidhrabha Cricket,” stated the release from the association.
Well, the time off from longer format of the game will definitely allow Rayudu to focus more on limited-overs cricket especially for India in the ODIs. Rayudu recently returned to the ODI team after a gap of two years for the Asia Cup and has made an instant impact. He earned the recall for the England series after his exploits in the IPL. Rayudu had the best IPL with the bat, as he amassed 602 runs at a strike rate of 149.75 including one century.
However, he was later dropped from the side after he failed the yo-yo test.He finally returned to the team during the Asia Cup and made a huge impression. On the slow tracks of UAE, he scored 165 runs in six games with a top score of 60. Against Windies, he did even better, finishing the series with 217 runs at an average of over 62. It included a stunning century in the fourth ODI.
Rayudu is now looking set to end India’s long wait for a reliable number four batsmen in ODIs.
He even received lavish praise from skipper Virat Kohli for his performance against Windies.
“He (Rayudu) has taken the chance with both hands and we need to back him till 2019 World Cup. He is feeling good about his game and we need to give him the confidence, he reads the game well and we are happy that someone as intelligent is batting at number four,” Kohli had said after the fourth ODI.
Coming to Rayudu’s first-class career, he played 97 games and scored over 6,000 runs. It included 16 tons and 34 fifties.
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