ICC World Cup 2019: Ambati Rayudu gets support from ICC after exclusion from Indian squad

The Indian squad for the ICC World Cup 2019 was announced the BCCI selection panel headed by MSK Prasad on April 15. In what can be considered as a surprise, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar won the race to go to England, while Ambati Rayudu and Rishabh Pant were excluded from the touring party.

It was shocking news for Rayudu’s fans as just six months ago, he had cemented his place in the Indian team at the no.4 spot. The Hyderabad batsman had a very good series against West Indies at home where he scored a century and made valuable contributions in the Asia Cup 2018 as well, which India won under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.

However, Rayudu had seen a little dip in form and despite good innings in New Zealand in an ODI, where he and Vijay Shankar rescued India from a precarious situation; he was dropped from the Australia ODI series at home.

ICC helps out Rayudu by putting up some numbers

The rise of Vijay Shankar proved to be detrimental for Rayudu, as Shankar’s clean hitting abilities along with his superior fielding and added bowling skills tilted the selectors in his favor. “We have been planning soon after the completion of the Champions Trophy (2017) for this. But let me tell you that in the last month or so, there have been a couple of players who have really cropped up like Vijay Shankar,” MSK Prasad said after announcing the squad.

Rayudu’s purple patch had gotten his endorsement from skipper Kohli, but his subsequent poor form in Australia and New Zealand led to him saying that they needed to solidify the no.4 spot in playing XI.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come with some numbers to support Rayudu’s claim for a World Cup spot in Indian team, “Highest batting career averages for India in ODI cricket (min. 20 innings)” where Virat Kohli tops the list with 59.57 followed by MS Dhoni (50.37) and Rohit Sharma (47.39). Fourth on the list stands Rayudu with 47.05, one spot above batting legend Sachin Tendulkar (44.83). ICC then writes, “Rayudu was excluded from India’s @cricketworldcup squad. Do you think he should have made the cut?”

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