VVS Laxman says he feels the pain and anguish of Ambati Rayudu

Hyderabad and India batsman Ambati Rayudu decided to walk away from the game he loved and informed the BCCI in an email. Rayudu spent the most of 2018 as India’s answer to its no.4 spot conundrum, but in 2019, his form dwindled badly for him to be overtaken by Vijay Shankar, who was also picked for India’s 2019 World Cup squad.

Ambati Rayudu’s dream of playing a match in the World Cup wearing the India team jersey went unfulfilled. He was part of the Indian squad for the 2015 edition as well but didn’t get to play any game. This time, after he was not chosen for the initial squad, the selectors named him as the reserve batsman. But he was snubbed twice when replacements were needed due to injuries eventually he decided to call it quits.

Rayudu got a lot of tributes from many former cricketers for his very good career for the Indian team and in the IPL as well. One of those was VVS Laxman, who took to Twitter in order to not only celebrate Rayudu’s career but also showed solidarity with his situation. Laxman wrote on Twitter, “Can understand the pain and anguish Ambati Rayudu may be feeling after the World Cup snub even after performing well. I wish him lots of happiness and peace in his second innings.”

Interestingly, VVS Laxman himself was snubbed for the World Cup selection three times. He missed out on going to England in 1999, to South Africa for 2003 and to West Indies in 2007. The closest he came to playing in World Cup was in the 2003 edition, but the selectors decided to pick Dinesh Mongia over him due to his ability to bowl left-arm spin. Laxman ended his amazing career with over 100 Tests and 200 ODIs, without ever playing a World Cup game.

Ambati Rayudu made over 1600 runs in ODIs for India and also played 6 T20Is. The right-handed batsman also featured for Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh as well as Baroda in domestic cricket, playing 97 FC, 216 T20 and 160 List A matches. He was also a part of the Indian Cricket League, which he joined as a rebel, but was later granted amnesty by BCCI and made his India debut in 2013 against Zimbabwe.