Hyderabad: After back to back World Cup snubs Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement from international cricket as well as domestic cricket on Wednesday. He has written a letter to BCCI.
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Though Rayudu was part of the five-member reserve list for the World Cup, he was not picked as a replacement after Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar were ruled out due to injury.
The middle-order batsman hasn't revealed the reason behind his retirement yet. However, he made it clear that he is not going to play Indian Premier League or any other tournaments in India.
He keeps himself open to overseas T20 leagues instead.
His decision to bid adieu to Indian cricket came a day after Iceland Cricket offered him to play for them in a bizarre tweet, asking him to apply for Icelandic nationality so that he can play for them.
The 33-year-old batsman scored 1694 runs in 50 ODIs at an average of 47.05 with a top score of unbeaten 124. He has three centuries and 10 fifties under his belt. His strike-rate in ODI cricket is decent 79.04. In the five T20I innings that he played for India, he scored mere 42 runs at a dismal average of 10.50.
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After Dhawan was ruled out from the World Cup due to a thumb injury, the Indian team management sent Rishabh Pant as his replacement. Recently, Vijay Shankar was ruled out due to a toe injury. Surprising everyone, BCCI opted for opener Mayank Agarwal, who was not part of the World Cup reserve list, as Shankar's replacement.
Rayudu was trolled on social media after being ignored by the Indian board for the second time in this World Cup season. It must be noted that Rayudu had failed to prove his worth as he succumbed to failures against Australia in home ODI series that led to his exclusion from the World Cup squad.
Earlier, Rayudu received flak for tweeting about buying 3D glass to watch the World Cup in an attempt to mock chief selector MSK Prasad after he selected '3D player' Shankar ahead of Rayudu.
