Birmingham: India captain Virat Kohli Wednesday described Ambati Rayudu as “a top man” after the middle-order batsman, who was ignored for the ongoing World Cup, retired from all forms of cricket.
“Wish you the best going forward Ambati. You’re a top man @RayuduAmbati,” Kohli wrote on his official Twitter handle.
Snubbed twice over for the ongoing World Cup, Rayudu Wednesday retired from all forms of cricket without specifying his reasons for calling it quits.
The 33-year-old Andhra Pradesh batsman was in India’s official standbys list for the big event in the UK but was ignored despite the injury-forced ouster of all-rounder Vijay Shankar.
Opener Mayank Agrawal was brought in on the team management’s insistence and it is learnt, Rayudu was left quite disappointed by the turn of events.
Rayudu played 55 ODIs for India, scoring 1694 runs at an average of 47.05. The player, who could never break into the Test team, was in the spotlight before the World Cup.
Declared the preferred No.4 batsman by Kohli not many months ago, Rayudu was ignored for Shankar in India’s final squad for the big event.
Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad had justified the move by saying that Shankar had “three-dimensional skills”. Shankar couldn’t make much of an impact and was eventually forced out by a toe injury.
Rayudu had taken a dig at Prasad’s statement with a cheeky social media post. “Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup,” he had tweeted at the time.
