Recently off-the-cuff was the claim made by India’s former batting star about batsman and event winner of the ICC 20-20 World Cup in 2007, Robin Uthappa, about how the problem of ousting-virulent Virat Kohli from the Indian World Cup 2019 squad was politicised to slam the door on Ambati Rayudu. Rayudu was snubbed for the Indian World Cup side even though he has played over 10 matches on the trot leading into this tournament. 39-year old Rayudu had not even been called up as a replacement player wherein Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the tournament following an injury during the second match of the team against Australia.
In the words of Uthappa, the captain of the Indian team back then (Kohli) doesn’t like someone that means they have to be cut. That’s what happened with Rayudu, who was the team’s No-4 batter after all.
“If he (Virat Kohli) didn’t like anyone, he didn’t feel someone was good, and so they were cut. Rayudu is the prime example. You feel bad. Everybody has preferences, I agree, but you cannot close the door on a player after taking him to the cusp. He had World Cup clothes and a World Cup kit bag; everything was there at his home. A player would be thinking that he is going to the World Cup. But you shut the door on him. That was not fair according to me,” Uthappa said while speaking at Lallantop.
I want to describe how Rayudu ignored a place for the Indian squad for the ODI World Cup; he posted a ‘3D’ tweet talking just because he had not been selected by the chief selector MSK for two selection committees.. Well, according to Prasad, the committee also consisted of other selectors, and the captain had the last word on final decision
Rayudu has the highest number in the history of cricket career with multiple sixes in IPL history. It participated in 55 ODIs as well as 6 T20s, accumulating scores of 1694 and 42 runs. In 2015, he was part of the ODI team in the WC competition but could not get the opportunity to play. During his six-year long career in ODIs, he was instrumental in helping India win the 2018 edition of the Asia Cup which was hosted in the UAE.
