Ambati Rayudu leaves with “what could have been” regrets but who to blame for it all?
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After the failure and shame in the 1999 World Cup, the '02 English summer gave a chance for redemption for the Indians and coincidentally, it was not only the senior team which was under the scanner. As many as three teams were in action at the same time, with a lot of promise for the golden future.
In July, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif put on a show at the Lord’s and showcased what the new India, under the inspiring leadership of Sourav Ganguly, could do in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal that rocked Indian cricket altogether. In the following month, Mithali Raj, who was an unknown commodity then, had hit a sublime 214 to rise into the national consciousness.Â
And a little over a week after Mithali’s record-breaking effort, the triumvirate of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly made eye-catching hundreds to bury England before the spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh took over the charge to dismantle the Englishmen for an innings victory at Leeds. That was some time to be an Indian cricket fan!
Almost at the same time, a 16-year-old boy from Guntur dazzled Hyde Park with a display that can still be considered as one of the most outrageous innings by an Indian youngster. India U-19 were chasing 303 and were already reduced to 135 for 6, when Ambati Rayudu smashed, crushed, and schooled the English colts on his way to a brilliant 177 off just 114 deliveries, with 16 fours and a six. It was the imminent arrival of a prodigious superstar and the future seemed to be in safe hands.
However, in the grand paradox of Indian cricket opera, one could just dream and the rest depends on how the stars align for you in the times to come. While the other members of that U-19 batch - the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and RP Singh went on to have careers with varying degrees of success, Rayudu, for the longest time, remained as a fringe player and subsequently, a paradox in Indian cricket.
At the first sight, Rayudu may seem modest to the fault - an inborn character trait that was there for many Hyderabadi bred cricketers - but a rebellious attitude throughout his career resulted in several fall-outs, change of the teams and eventually, premature retirement from the sport. A promising start with Hyderabad didn’t last long as he moved to Andhra before returning to Hyderabad again, and just when one thought he would learn from the lesson, he moved to ICL before a BCCI amnesty saw him return with Baroda in the Ranji Trophy.Â
The love affair with Baroda didn’t last long too as he moved back to Hyderabad where he once had an infamous scrap with former BCCI chief Shivlal Yadav’s son Arjun Yadav. All this ensured Rayudu, until he made his debut for India in a low-profile ODI series in 2013, was in the news for everything other than his cricket. After all, a first-class average of 45.56 is not the stuff to garner attraction of the national selectors.
Even when he made an unbeaten 63 in his first game, like many things with him, this also proved to be a false dawn. International cricket can sometimes be a very cruel commodity and it is where the lines between the talented and hard-working cricketers begin to widen by a mile. But was Rayudu one among the former lot and never did try enough to be a successful cricketer? He is mild, but did he lack the “intent” - the buzz word in the Indian cricket ever since Virat Kohli took over the captaincy - to prove himself? Was his eventual non-selection in the World Cup team a byproduct of the lack of patience - both on and off the field?
All these force you to contemplate a flawed character and question the man management in the Indian cricketing ecosystem. Of course, the selection panel has done some great job in the last few years and put up a system where talents are always brimming. But have they been successful in putting up an effective communication channel between the management and players?Â
Not even a year ago, we had Karun Nair and Murali Vijay complaining of the same, and then Shreyas Iyer, almost in an irritating tone, said that he has moved on from the thought of getting selected. And now Rayudu’s management lays bare the problems of a conservative hierarchy in Indian cricket, which, from the looks of it, seems to have dramatically failed to handle the assertive individualism of many modern-day Indian players.
As far as the case of Ambati Rayudu goes, the man himself is also to blame for his own downfall than the team management itself. When he got a lifeline after a cracking IPL with Chennai Super Kings in 2018, he should have realised that the opportunity with the Indian team could have changed his life for good, but instead, he managed to score only one half-century outside of the sub-continent - on a challenging Wellington deck - and lacked the spark to accelerate and to dominate the opposition at any point in time. His inclination for percentage cricket and the inability to cut loose when subjected to good bowling attacks brought the basic problem to the fore and that convinced the team management and the selectors that Vijay Shankar would be a better fit for the team.Â
That said, it should also be remembered that rejections are a part and parcel of life and Rayudu shouldn’t have been taken the call so soon. Of course, the news of Mayank Agarwal’s selection must have hurt, but then again, who initiated this downfall? The anger management has never been Rayudu’s forte and a couple of years ago, he was seen getting off his SUV and entering into a verbal and physical argument with an older gentleman on the roads of Hyderabad. It was largely unbecoming of an international cricketer and even though, he put that behind and made an international return, his Twitter activity after Vijay Shankar’s selection and eventual retirement, will force people to remember him as a talented but insecure cricketer. It's over and it was quite a journey.
