Rayudu retires from first-class, to focus on limited-overs game

Hyderabad: With an eye on prolonging his career in limited overs cricket, Hyderabad captain Ambati Rayudu has decided to retire from the longer version of the game, ruling himself out of the Ranji Trophy season that has just started.

The 33-year-old, who is in the scheme of things for the One-Day International World Cup next year, has played 97 first class matches and scored 6,151 runs — including 16 centuries — at an average of 45.56.

Rayudu averages 51.67 in the 45 ODIs he has played so far. He has also played 6 Twenty20 Internationals but has aggregated just 42 runs in five innings. He hasn’t been able to break into the Test side.

“Ambati Rayudu, Hyderabad captain and member of India ODI team, has decided to retire from longer version of the game including Ranji Trophy (multi-day) to focus on limited overs cricket and T20 cricket. He will continue to play international and domestic matches of shorter version. He has thanked BCCI, Hyderabad Cricket Association, Andhra Cricket Association, Baroda Cricket Association and Vidrabha Cricket Association in his mail. HCA wishes him all success in his future endeavour,” the Hyderabad Cricket Association said in a statement on Saturday.