Sports News Desk !!! Ambati Rayudu is celebrating his 39th birthday today i.e. on 23rd September. Rayudu has also played for Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, Baroda and Vidarbha in domestic cricket. He has played for Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in IPL. Rayudu, famous for his anger and fights, has had a very controversial cricket career. He was always in the headlines for some reason or the other. Rayudu’s anger proved costly for him. That is why the international career of Rayudu, who was once considered one of India’s greatest batsmen, ended in just 6 years. Not only this, during this time his debut was delayed and even after joining the team, he could not play any Test or World Cup match.
Ambati Rayudu played an unbeaten innings of 177 runs at the age of 16 on the tour of England in 2002. Due to his innings, India’s Under-19 team defeated England badly. This brought Rayudu into the eyes of cricket experts. After this, he created a sensation by scoring a double century and then a century in the same match for Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy. Rayudu did not stop here. Under his captaincy, India reached the semi-finals of the 2004 Under-19 World Cup.
After showing so much talent, it was believed that he would make his debut for Team India at a young age. But Rayudu’s anger got the better of him. The result was that instead of debuting at the age of 20-21, he got a chance at the age of 27. Rayudu made his international debut against Zimbabwe in Harare on 24 July 2013. Even after this, he kept going in and out of the team.
Discord in domestic cricket and rebellion against BCCI
Ambati Rayudu made his first-class debut for Hyderabad at the age of just 16. After the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, his poor performance continued in the Ranji Trophy as well. Meanwhile, he had a dispute with Hyderabad coach Rajesh Yadav, after which he left the team and went to play for Andhra Pradesh. During the Ranji Trophy match, he got into a fight with the Hyderabad players. Then Arjun Yadav, playing for Hyderabad, attacked him with a stump.
Rayudu had just emerged from this controversy in 2007 when he once again came into the limelight by separating from BCCI. In fact, despite the ban of BCCI, he went to play in the Indian Cricket League. At that time BCCI did not recognize this league. In such a situation, BCCI banned all the tournaments related to Team India and the board. However, due to the opposition of BCCI and ICC, Indian Cricket League was closed after just 2 years and Ambati Rayudu separated in 2009.
Apology from BCCI, IPL, International career and retirement
Ambati Rayudu had to apologize to BCCI for participating in the Indian Cricket League. After this, the doors of domestic cricket, IPL and Team India opened again for him. In IPL 2010, Mumbai Indians included him in the team by paying a price of Rs 12 lakh. In IPL, Rayudu started performing brilliantly for Mumbai in every season and won many big matches. While playing in IPL, there was a clash between Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan, which created controversy. Meanwhile, in 2013, he got a call for Team India, but he did not get many opportunities.
Rayudu, who made his ODI debut in 2013 and T20 International debut in 2014, did not get a chance to play a single Test match. He could play only 6 matches in T20 as well, in which he scored only 42 runs. Despite performing brilliantly in ODIs, he kept getting in and out of the team. He was a part of the Indian team during the 2015 World Cup but did not get any match. Then for a year or two in between, his performance was not very good and he was also dropped from the team. He made a comeback after a strong performance in the 2018 IPL but was not selected for the 2019 World Cup. There was a lot of uproar over this. Rayudu was very hurt by this and he retired in anger.
