Ambati Rayudu calls it a day from all forms of cricket

According to PTI reports, Rayudu has announced retirement from all forms of cricket that has come as a big surprise for many. The Guntur-born cricketer was a stand-by for the World Cup after he was not selected in the first 15-member squad. However, he was ignored even after the injuries to Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar as Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal were called in as replacements for the Indian team.

The Indian middle-order batsman has played 55 ODIs for India and scored 1694 runs at an average of 47.05. His career includes three centuries and 10 fifties as well. However, the 33-year-old batsman, who has also played six T20Is, never played a Test match for India. He had made his ODI debut back in 2013 against Zimbabwe and the Ranchi ODI against Australia earlier this year was his last outing with the Indian jersey.

He had played for Hyderabad Heroes in the Indian Cricket League earlier in his career and had got banned by the BCCI for the same. Last year, he had decided not to play first-class matches to concentrate more on his limited-overs cricket.

“This is to inform that Ambati Rayudu, Hyderabad captain and member of the India ODI team, has decided to retire from the longer version of the game including Ranji Trophy (multi-day) to focus on limited overs cricket and T20 cricket," Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) had stated last year.