Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble said that the Indian team management helmed by captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri had made a huge blunder by not playing Ambati Rayudu in the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup in England.
Ambati Rayudu ended his IPL career by in a fairytale way by winning his 6th title—his third with Chennai Super Kings. One of the great workhorses in Indian cricket, Rayudu, is thought to have fallen short of expectations in terms of his career with his country.
He played 55 ODIs and 6 T20Is, but could never become a permanent part of the Men in Blue side.
However, his exclusion from the 2019 World Cup Indian side is seen as one of the injustices done to Rayudu as India was in dire need of a good batter at no.4 and had spent the previous year trying multiple batters at the spot.
Between September 2018 and March 2019, Rayudu was their answer to no.4 conundrum, as he played 21 ODIs in that six-month period faring rather decently – scoring 639 runs including one century and four fifties.
He also had an excellent IPL 2018 where he smashed 602 runs with one century and helped CSK win the title as they returned to the league after a two-year suspension.
But when the Indian squad for the 2019 World Cup was announced, his name was missing and then chief selector MSK Prasad said that they went for all-rounder Vijay Shankar as he was three-dimensional player.
Based on the contentious statement made by the former head selector MSK Prasad that Vijay Shankar is a 3D (3-dimensional) player, Rayudu had controversially tweeted, “Just ordered a new set of 3D glasses to watch the World Cup”.
During India's World Cup campaign, Rayudu momentarily announced his retirement before retracting it. Sadly, Rayudu was never able to play for India again.
India bowling legend Anil Kumble feels it was a 'blunder' to not have Rayudu take the flight to England.
"Rayudu should have played the 2019 World Cup. Oh yes, there's no doubt about it. It was a huge blunder. You prepared him for that role for so long and his name just disappears from the squad. It was surprising nonetheless," Kumble said on Jio Cinema.
Rayudu finished his IPL career as the joint most title winner with six trophies to his name.
