File photo of Ambati Rayudu©AFP
During the 2019 ODI World Cup, India’s Board of Control for Cricket selection committee was widely criticized after Ambati Rayudu was turned down for a spot in the team, in favor of ‘3D player’ Vijay Shankar. Rayudu’s social media reaction to the news added fuel to the fire and the veteran batsman never played for India again. After ending his cricket career, Rayudu has finally opened up about the controversy and confirmed that he had nothing personal against Shankar but could not understand the logic behind his selection as he was a player ranked No. 6 or no hit. 7 position, and not No. 4.
In an interview with TV9 Telugu, Rayudu said that he would have been satisfied if the selectors chose someone like Ajinkya Rahane, a mid-range specialist batsman, and not Shankar, who was a player belonging to a different category.
“Look if they would have picked someone like Rahane or a similar player or someone with experience and senior then it would have been understandable. Everyone wants India to win. They didn’t pick me for any reason only they would know .” But if you replace me with someone, that should also be useful for the team. That’s where I got angry. It wasn’t about Vijay Shankar. What could he have done? He played his cricket. Whatever the thought behind it, I couldn’t. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand whether they were playing a World Cup or a normal league match,” Rayudu said.
“Team selection is not the work of one person. For example, there are people in team management, perhaps because of them. Like there used to be a gentleman in Hyderabad. Maybe they didn’t like me or there were past incidents that made them look at me differently. So my career became like a cycle of these kinds of people showing up,” he continued.
On his viral ‘3D glasses’ tweet, the former Chennai Super Kings batsman said, “Everyone went after Vijay Shankar. I had no intention of that. I couldn’t understand their thinking and logic. If you have decided to replace me, you could have picked a similar player How can you pick a player who plays numbers 6 and 7 and put him on 4 I have nothing personal against Vijay Shankar and MSK Prasad I have played in New Zealand for the World Cup in similar circumstances. I prepared myself well. Only those people can answer what happened.”
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