Ambati Rayudu feels Saurabh Tiwary needs to improve his running between wickets

After being involved in an ugly run-out last night against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Mumbai Indians veteran Ambati Rayudu believes Saurabh Tiwary should work on his running between the wickets. Before the start of the match, Mumbai had already qualified for the playoffs and it was certain that Rohit Sharma’s team would end up on top of the table.

With a game in hand, Mahela Jayawardena and co. desired to test their reserves and as a result made wholesale changes to the side. Vinay Kumar, Mitchell Johnson and Tim Southee were included in the side along with Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary. The Indian duo impressed one and all the last time they played together in the same franchise as they stitched some match-winning partnerships in the 2010 edition of the IPL.

The duo amassed as many as 388 runs in the middle order for the Mumbai Indians, averaging an incredible 48 throughout. They were involved in three 50+ stands and one century stand in the tournament. Since then, Rayudu and Tiwary have led different careers. The Jharkhand batsman has led a nomadic life in IPL, playing for Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rising Pune Supergiant. Rayudu, on the other hand, has been retained in all the season for the Mumbai.

Therefore, it was finally a moment to be cherished when the two old warhorses came back to put forward yet another match-winning partnership for their team, after 7 long years.

The runout

However, the partnership concluded with an anti-climax as Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary were involved in an ugly runout. To which Rayudu responded by saying, “He (Tiwary) definitely needs to improve his running. With four overs to go, that’s not the way.”

The incident occurred in the 16th over of the Mumbai’s innings. Umesh Yadav delivered a steep bouncer to Rayudu and the batsman could not middle it but called for a run. Rayudu almost completed the run while Tiwary was left stranded in the midway of the pitch. As a result, Tiwary was dismissed for a score 52.