Ambati Rayudu staged a grand comeback to the Indian one-day team at the back of a sterling IPL 2018. With an aggregate of 602 runs from 16 matches, the batsman from Hyderabad was the Chennai Super Kings’ highest run-getter and the fourth-highest run-getter overall.
After the IPL, Rayudu also scored runs in a quadrangular series at home; he scored 62 not out against Australia A, made 11 and 66 against the South African A team, and would be India A’s top run-getter in the competition.
Rayudu’s form was recognised by the National Selection Committee, and he was duly rewarded with a place in the Indian team for the Asia Cup in the UAE. Rayudu was back in the India Blue after more than two years. Mission Comeback successful!
Rayudu played a couple of good knocks in the Asia Cup, including an unbeaten 31 against arch-rivals Pakistan. He carried his good form into the ODI series against the West Indies at home, and played a good hand in the ODI in Visakhapatnam and scored a hundred in the fourth ODI in Mumbai.
Then in the ODI series in Australia, he bagged a blob in the first ODI and made an unconvincing 24 in the second ODI and lost his place in the third ODI.
Next stop New Zealand: Back in the playing XI, Rayudu gave a good account of himself and had a fairly consistent tour; he completed the series with a match-winning 90 in the final ODI. All good so far.
Then the turnaround in fortunes. He had four failures in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and had three poor matches against the visiting Australian team.
If the national selectors had recognised and rewarded Rayudu’s form in 2018, it was only fair that they respected the batsman’s poor form in 2019 too. Not surprisingly, the axe fell on Rayudu and he was left out of India’s squad for the 2019 World Cup.
Rayudu is not the swiftest on the field and his fitness might have gone against him too. As could the perception that he, like a few other legends of the past, is only a minnow-basher. Does Rayudu have the skills and temperament to succeed against the big teams, on the big stage, in a big competition such as the World Cup? What do the numbers indicate?
Even though Rayudu was the incumbent number four, there were several factors against him. One should therefore not blame MSK Prasad and his panel for taking the sensible call of exploring alternate options.
A day after the selection announcement, Rayudu tweeted saying he had “ordered 3D glasses” to watch the World Cup. Hopefully he could use those new 3D glasses to take a close look at the three factors which might have cost him: His form, his fitness & his reputation.
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