BCCI To Take Action Against Ambati Rayudu For Dig At Selectors?

Following the World Cup snub, Ambati Rayudu had raised quite a number of eyebrows with his cryptic tweet. Rayudu was looking set to make it to the World Cup after being recalled to the ODI team during the last year’s Asia Cup. The right-handed batsman hit the ground running. He started off with a 60 against Hong Kong, followed by a couple of not-outs and a fifty against Afghanistan which resulted in a tie. His successful stint in the Asia Cup awarded him another chance in the West Indies series.

Rayudu scored 217 runs in 4 innings in the series which included a 100 and 73*. The best of Rayudu was yet to come. He played a match-winning inning of 90 on a tricky pitch of Wellington in the New Zealand series that followed. His matured innings got praised by skipper Virat Kohli who hinted that the headache for number four is finally over. It was assumed that Ambati Rayudu could be flying to England the coming summer.

However, it all changed after the s home series against Australia. Rayudu collected just 33 runs in the three matches he played before being dropped.  What hurt his chances further was the impressive form of newcomer Vijay Shankar. The selectors then sprung a huge surprise by not naming Rayudu in the World Cup squad to make room for Shankar.

Explaining the selection, chief selector MSK Prasad had cited Shankar’s “three-dimensional qualities”. Rayudu had then taken a dig at Prasad’s explanation by tweeting that he plans to buy 3D glasses to watch the World Cup.

Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup ??..

— Ambati Rayudu (@RayuduAmbati) April 16, 2019

Fortunately for Rayudu, the BCCI brass is not taking any action against him. The BCCI officials had taken a note of the tweet but have decided to not take any action since it wasn’t a direct criticism of the selection policy.

“We have taken note of what Rayudu has tweeted. (But) Let’s accept that emotions are running high at this moment. There is bound to be disappointment and there needs to be an outlet of expression as long as it’s not out of line,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying by IndiaTV.

“He will need some time to soak in the disappointment and it’s understandable. There is no need for sanctions. Also, he is one of our standbys. If any injury happens there is every chance, he would go,” the official said.

Rayudu, meanwhile, has made it to India’s standby list for the World Cup along with Rishabh Pant and Navdeep Saini.