Almost certain for the 2019 world cup courtesy of his impressive performance in Asia Cup and West Indies ODI series, middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu has decided to part ways from first class cricket. Hyderabad cricket association confirmed the news of Rayudu’s retirement today.
The move may be taken as Rayudu wanted to shift his focus to limited overs so he can maintain his form and perform to get certain for the world cup squad. The middle-order batsman will not feature in the ongoing season of Ranji trophy but will continue to play in the ODI and T20 series.
“Hyderabad Captain and Member of India ODI team has decided to retire from longer version of the game including Ranji Trophy (multi-day) to focus on limited overs cricket and T20 cricket. He will continue to play international and domestic matches of shorter version. He has thanked BCCI, Hyderabad Cricket Association, Andhra Cricket Association, Baroda Cricket Association and Vidhrabha Cricket,” Hyderabad cricket association’s press release said.
Rayudu’s domestic career
Rayudu started his first class career in 2001 for Hyderabad which continued till 2005. He then moved to Andhra for 2005 and 2006 season before moving to Hyderabad from 2006 to 2010 season.
Rayudu continued to impress in the IPL, playing for Mumbai Indians by this time and shifted his base to west and played for Baroda from 2010 to 2016 season. He then moved to Vidarbha for 2016-17 season.
For the penultimate stage of his first class career, he went back to Hyderabad from the 2017 season.
Overall, he played in 97 first class games, scoring 6,151 runs at an average of 45.56 including 16 hundreds.
