‘Are Bhai ye to dhoti khol Raha hai’ -Fans react as Ambati Rayudu talks about his omission from 2019 World Cup post his retirement
Ambati Rayudu left everyone in tears after he announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL). A few days after he won a fifth IPL title for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) he burst out in an emotional interview with TV 9 Telugu about his snub from the 2019 World Cup. Rayudu was not selected for the tournament as the Indian Team management preferred to go to Vijay Shakar at that time.
He took a jibe at MSK Prasad who was the chief selector at that time. He put a cryptic tweet out after MSK had said that Shankar was picked for his three-dimensional skills. (Batting, bowling and fielding). “Just ordered a new set of 3D glasses to watch the world cup,” Rayudu had written in a tweet then. India had a disastrous end to the 2019 World Cup campaign as they lost to New Zealand at Manchester in the semi-finals.
I did not understand if India were playing a league match or a club match -Ambati Rayudu on the team selection
“A team selection is not done by an individual. Even if he deliberately wanted to or not, there are many other factors. There were certain people in team management. There was one Hyderabadi person. There were some instances when I was young when we did not get along. Small things which I did not like about them and some they did not like about me. And they have been built over a period of time. These were the same people I have dealt with for my entire career in a cycle,” Rayudu stated in the interview.
“See if they would have picked someone like Rahane or any similar ilk of a player or someone who is experienced and senior it would have been understandable. Everyone wants India to win. They have not picked me for whatever reason which only they would know. But when you replace me with someone it should be helpful to the team as well. That is where I got angry. It was not about Vijay Shankar. What could have he done? He was playing cricket. Whatever the thinking behind I could not understand. I could not understand if they were playing a World Cup or a normal league match,” Rayudu added.
Before the 2019 World Cup began, he was touted as the number four for India. But then, as luck would have it, he was chosen as a standby in the 2019 World Cup squad as a last-minute measure. The Andhra batter had run under his belt at the international level before the 2019 World Cup commenced.
Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:
So true, the selectors Fkd up big time here
— CovertStriker7 (@iamshreyaskr) June 14, 2023
Remembere rayudu scoring a hundred against NZ in Nz just when we were collapsing. And we dropped him only to get eliminated by NZ in wc. Still believe if he was playing we could have won that games against NZ. Rayudu is a tough player. Poor planning by kohli and ravi
— Vignesh (@ViniciusJrERA) June 14, 2023
When you win your every decision become a pre-planned strategy.
When you lose, your every decision become a mistake.It's all about outcome.
— Abhishek Tiwari 🐦 (@AbhishekT0) June 14, 2023
Fraudster MSk
Taking personal grudge against rayudu which resulted in India's loss— shivateja (@shivate99193259) June 14, 2023
He's selfless
Not afraid of losing his position to a deserving candidate but BCCI can't find one— Aarsh (@arsxxhyyy_) June 14, 2023
Biggest selection blunder
Rayudu was perfect no 4 at that time
He might just have won us the sf— Arman Patel (@discplinedtrder) June 14, 2023
Selections like Vijay Shankar, Varun Chakraborty, Rahul Chahar were disastrous for team India.
— A Non-technical Engg. (@MSriv14) June 14, 2023
Ambati was avging 30 in 2019 pre wc. So he was definitely not going to be on the bus. Who replaced him is none of his business but obviously india tried to get better balance with an all rounder. That it didnt work out is incidental
— Abel Amos (@AbelAmos) June 15, 2023
It was because of the #4 spot, 19 WC was lost. DK was batting in a big game without any match practice. At least when Dhawan was injured, they should've picked Rayudu. Kohli a few months before WC said he's the choice.
Kohli Shastri say it's not their decision, but can't buy it— tweettrombone1 (@tweettrombone1) June 14, 2023
Great point, but Vijay Shankar did whatever he could, he wasn't a complete letdown unlike someone like Hooda. Even now, he's doing great. Man received too much hate for which was not his mistake
— Deva 13 (@Deva456Deva) June 14, 2023
