Reports: Ambati Rayudu makes himself unavailable for 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season

It has been that sort of year for Ambati Rayudu, hasn’t it? From starting the year as the incumbent No.4 batsman for Team India in white-ball formats to being dropped in favour of  “3-D player” Vijay Shankar. From taking a sly dig at the national selectors to taking what many called as an emotional retirement to then taking a U-turn months later, the story of Ambati Rayudu and the year 2019 takes an interesting turn with every passing month.

The Hyderabad batsman had announced his retirement from all forms of the game after Mayank Agarwal was called-in as a cover for KL Rahul during the 2019 World Cup had come out of the sojourn back in August. Rayudu had since then led Hyderbad in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Twent20 tournament but in an interesting development, the right-hander has expressed his inability in playing the Ranji Trophy- India’s premier First-Class tournament.

Rayudu will not be available for the upcoming Ranji season

According to a report published in telanganatoday.com, the Chennai Super Kings batsman has sent a letter to RA Swaroop, chairman of the senior selection committee od Hyderabad Cricket where he has stated that he would not be available for the Ranji season.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Ambati Rayudu has expressed his reservations against playing First-Class cricket. Last year, in a bid to prolong his white-ball career, the Hyderabad captain had announced his retirement from Four-day cricket. Rayudu’s decision to quit First-Class cricket last season backfired substantially as the lack of match-practice during the time when India was not playing white-ball cricket was clearly evident when he did come back to the side for the series against Australia and New Zealand.

He may have finished as the top-run getter in the New Zealand series but a series of convincing dismissals against both pace and seam followed by the concurrent rise of Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar meant he fell way behind the pegging order.

With Rayudu no longer available to lead the side, Hyderabad will be led by B Sandeep, who was the sides’ top run-getter in the T20 tournament.

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