If a Ferris wheel of Ambati Rayudu's career was started in the last one year, it has come one full circle in August this year. After being earmarked as India's ‘Number 4’ for the World Cup and strongly backed by Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, Rayudu found himself neglected during the prestigious tournament. He then announced his retirement in a hurry, clearly hurt and frustrated at the time.
But he has taken a u-turn of late by announcing his return to the Indian T20 League and in all three formats for Hyderabad. Here's a timeline of the twists and turns in his career in the last one year.
May 2018: Aces Indian T20 League
Picked up by the Chennai franchise, Rayudu had a revolutionary season at the top of the order. He scored 602 runs at an average of 43.00 and a strike-rate of 149.75 and was soon on the radar of the national selectors.
June 2018: Fails Yo-Yo Test
Rayudu failed a yo-yo test after being named in the ODI squad for a series against England. At that point, it seemed like the last nail in Rayudu's career. India were on the hunt for number 4 batsmen and anyone who failed the yo-yo test was deemed unfit for the side. A comeback seemed near impossible then.
October 2018: Kohli puts his weight behind Rayudu
After an impressive Asia Cup where Rayudu made 175 runs at 43.75, Virat Kohli backed him at the number 4 spot and reserved special praise for his consistency.
"With Rayudu coming in and playing well in the Asia Cup, it’s about giving him enough game time till the World Cup so that the particular slot will be sorted for us,” Kohli said then.
Rayudu backed up his skipper with a 73 and a 100 in the home series against West Indies.
November 2018: Announces retirement from first-class cricket
In a bid to strengthen his limited-overs game, Rayudu gave up first-class cricket. He had become a regular in India's ODI plans and had a riveting Indian T20 League for Chennai, a franchise that stuck by its good players. The career graph in limited-overs cricket was certainly on an upswing and first-class cricket seemed less necessary at the time for the Hyderabad batsman.
January - February 2019: Average series in Australia and New Zealand
Despite making a 90 at Wellington late in the series, Rayudu's ordinary outings in Australia and New Zealand were starting to raise concerns with the World Cup close by. In particular, his inability to go big in terms of strike rate was deemed a minus point. He was retained for the series against Australia at home but made very less impact with scores of 13, 18 and 2 even as Vijay Shankar stole the limelight with a few handy all-round performances.
April 2019: Overlooked for World Cup.
In what was a controversial decision, India omitted Rayudu from the World Cup squad, with the chief selector, MSK Prasad, famously quoted as saying India preferred Vijay Shankar's "three-dimensional" qualities.
A miffed Rayudu took to Twitter to vent his frustration. Rayudu tweeted that would be watching the World Cup with 3D glasses, in a pretty evident dig at Prasad’s words about Shankar. However, Rayudu was named as one of the stand-by players.
June and July 2019: Retires from cricket
India lost Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar to injury but call up Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal, even though the latter wasn't a part of the stand-by players named.
A pissed off Rayudu announced his retirement in a mail to BCCI.
“I would like to bring to your kind notice that I have come to decision to step away from the sport and retire from all forms and levels of the game,” Rayudu’s email read. "It has been an honour and privilege to have represented our country."
August 2019: A change of mind
After the emotions had died down, Rayudu perhaps realised that he was giving up his career far too early. Rayudu announced that he would revisit the retirement decision and confirmed his Indian T20 League participation.
"I would definitely be playing and make a comeback into white-ball cricket. My priority now is to get back into peak fitness," Rayudu said.
He then went on to send a mail to Hyderabad Cricket Association stating his availability across formats for them.
"I am looking forward to a wonderful season ahead with a very talented Hyderabad team and help the team realise its full potential. I will be available from September 10 to join the Hyderabad team," he added.
Hyderabad Cricket Association, on their part, are only happy to welcome Rayudu back into the setup and had conveyed that his services are required as the Ranji Trophy preparations get underway.
Read: Twitter slams BCCI for Rayudu’s retirement
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe
