Stats: Players to be dismissed retired out in List A cricket
On his return to professional cricket after recovering from a knee injury that put him 6 months out of the game, Ambati Rayudu struck a brilliant century against England XI in the warm-up game at CCI in Mumbai playing for India A. While the game was marked to be the last of MS Dhoni as Indian captain, Rayudu retired soon after completing his hundred to allow Dhoni to have a go in the middle and entertain the large crowd that turned up to witness their hero leading in the Men in Blue for one last time.
Since the game is counted in the List A records, unknowingly, Rayudu became the first Indian to be dismissed “retired out” in the List A cricket. In his List A career that expands to 120 matches, Rayudu brought up his only 4th century in this format. Two of his previous three tons in List A have come for India in ODIs while the other one for Hyderabad which was over a decade before his first ODI ton in 2014.
With 11 fours and a six, he brought up his century in just 97 balls, pacing his innings very well. He shared a 121-run stand for 2nd wicket with Shikhar Dhawan and up the ante with Yuvraj Singh by putting on 91 runs in just 74 balls before he retired at the end of the 41st over.
Thus Rayudu became only the 15th player in List A cricket to be dismissed “retired out”. Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was the first ever to be dismissed in that way in 1996 and in 2005, he became the first player and only one till date to be dismissed “retired out” twice in List A cricket.
Also read- Stats: Youngest players to score a 4th innings ton in first-class cricket
Unlike being “retired hurt”, walking off “retired out” will affect the batting averages as it will be considered as a batsman getting out. Rayudu’s List A batting average at end of the game reads 39.71 which could have been over 40 (40.12) had he been unbeaten on 100* or continued to bat and scored 27 more runs before getting out.
List of players dismissed retired out in List A cricket:
| Player | Team | Score | Opposition | Ground | Season |
| RT Ponting | Australians | 103 | Sri Lanka Colts XI | Colombo | 1996 |
| ME Waugh | Australians | 101 | Boland | Paarl | 1996/97 |
| GA Hick | England XI | 100 | Sri Lanka Board President’s XI | Colombo | 2000/01 |
| TC Walton | Cambridgeshire | 4 | Warwickshire Board | March | 2001 |
| PJC Hoffman | Scotland | 13 | Lancashire Board | Aberdeen | 2002 |
| WW Hinds | West Indians | 69 | Zimbabwe A | Kwekwe | 2003/04 |
| S Chanderpaul | West Indians | 64 | Zimbabwe A | Kwekwe | 2003/04 |
| ML Hayden | Australians | 76 | Somerset | Taunton | 2005 |
| RT Ponting | Australians | 80 | Somerset | Taunton | 2005 |
| WLP Fernando | Nondescripts CC | 63 | Sebastianites CAC | Moratuwa | 2005/06 |
| Sajid Shah | Abbottabad Rhinos | 114 | Islamabad Leopards | Islamabad | 2005/06 |
| AN Cook | England XI | 52 | Bangladesh Cricket Board XI | Fatullah | 2009/10 |
| DA Warner | Australians | 74 | Leicestershire | Leicester | 2012 |
| MJ Clarke | Australians | 76 | Essex | Chelmsford | 2012 |
| Kamran Akmal | Pakistan A | 104 | Afghanistan | Lahore | 2012/13 |
| AT Rayudu | India A | 100 | England XI | Mumbai (BS) | 2016/17 |
-> Among the 16 instances of “retired out” in List A, 6 have been recorded after the player scoring his century.
-> The West Indians vs Zimbabwe A in 2003/04 and Australians vs Somerset in 2005 are the only List A games to have two batsmen “retired out”. Both the games had players getting retired in the same innings.
(Stats as on January 10, 2017)
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