Happy B'day Ambati Rayudu: Here are 3 lesser known facts about the Hyderabad batsman
Mumbai: Termed as the Sachin Tendulkar's successor in Indian cricket, Ambati Rayudu's journey has been rickety in recent times.
Born on September 23, 1985, Rayudu grabbed the selectors' attention at a very young age. At the age of 16, he smashed England bowlers all around the park for a monumental knock of 177 runs. Rayudu then followed that game with a century and double hundred in a single Ranji Trophy match.
Rayudu came into the limelight by playing some splendid knocks for Mumbai Indians in 2011 and 2012 edition of the Indian Premier League.
The right-hander has played 55 ODIs for India and has scored three centuries along with 10 half centuries with a highest score of 124*. He has also played six T20 Internationals for India. Rayudu had been part of India's World Cup squad in 2015 but failed to get a game in Australia and New Zealand.
One of the prospects to solve Team India's No. 4 conondrum, the Andhra-Pradesh batsman's career has not taken off in recent times due to the ICC World Cup 2019 snub.
Rayudu announced retirement from all formats of the game following his exclusion from the World Cup squad. Rayudu was disregarded from the initial 15-member squad of Team India for the ICC World Cup 2019. All-rounder Vijay Shankar was included in place of Rayudu.
Rayudu also fell out of favour with the selectors after he tweeted his displeasure at not being selected for the World Cup and said that he'd be watching the games with 3D glasses.
However, after two months after drawing curtains to his cricketing career, Ambati Rayudu made a giant U-turn by coming out of retirement. The 34-year-old wrote to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), saying his decision to retire was an emotional one and that he is available for selection.
Here are some lesser known facts about Ambati Rayudu:
U-19 Captaincy:
Rayudu was appointed the captain of India’s Under-19 World Cup squad which included many future international cricketers like Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Irfan Dhawan, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh. However, Rayudu was the last player from the team to break into the senior Indian cricket team.
Double century at the age of 17:
Rayudu was 17 years and 55 days when he smashed a double century in the first innings and a hundred in the second inning. The right-hander scored 210 and 159 not-out during the 2002-03 Ranji Trophy encounter between Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh.
On-field clash:
Rayudu was once chased with a stump by Arjun Yadav on the field during a first-class match. The incident occurred in 2005 after Arjun's dismissal when the on-field spat went to such an extent that Arjun attacked Rayudu with a stump and almost hit him.
