The 33-year-old Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu has taken retirement from the first-class cricket to focus for his limited-overs career.
On Saturday, the right-handed Hyderabad batsman Ambati Rayudu took the retirement from first-class cricket. Making the first-class debut in 2001/02, Rayudu played 97 first-class games where he scored 6,151 runs with the average of 45.56, including 16 centuries and 34 half-centuries and the best score was 210. However, he never made his Test debut.
Apart from playing for Hyderabad (2001-05, 2006-10 and 2017-present) for three different terms, Rayudu has also served for Andhra (2005-06), Baroda (2010-16) and Vidarbha (2016-17) too.
Rayudu announced his retirement from the first-class cricket through the email which he sent to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
In that email, Rayudu wrote, “I have made a decision to retire from the longer format of the game keeping in view my injury history and my body going forward. This would help me focus on the shorter formats of the game and become much better at them and also will have time to keep my body in an extremely fit condition.
“I really would thank the Hyderabad Cricket Association and the BCCI for helping me get to where I am. I would also take this moment to thank my previous Associations Andhra, Baroda and Vidarbha for their support.”
Losing their skipper, Hyderabad cricket feels very sad. Noel David, the chairman of Hyderabad Senior Selection Committee, said that Rayudu not only a genius batsman, he was also a very intelligent captain and it will be not easy to find his proper replacement at soon.
David recently told TOI, “It is a big loss for Hyderabad cricket as Rayudu was not only a genius of a batsman but also a very intelligent captain. He has a good cricketing brain and reads the game very well. Finding someone with all these qualities in a short time will be a tough call for us. The ball is now in our courts as we have to rework our plans for the season. This is an out of the blue blow for us as we hadn’t expected this as the season has just started. We will have to rework our strategies and look how best we can fill up this big gap.
“We have to respect Rayudu’s decision as I am sure he has taken it keeping his best interest in view. It is every cricketer’s dream to play in the World Cup and therefore we should support him in realising his dream. I am sure that he will still play a key role for Hyderabad not only in the shorter versions of the game but also help mentor youngsters cope up with the pressures of playing in the longer version.”
Rayudu is currently running in the brilliant form with the bat in the limited-overs cricket as he has almost secured the no.4 batting spot for the Indian cricket team in the ODI format.
