Team India management in 2019 came up with stupid logic, thought I am not confident: Ambati Rayudu

Former India batter Ambati Rayudu recently opened up on his infamous team India snub from the 2019 ODI World Cup squad. Notably, Rayudu was not picked in the squad for the mega event as all-rounder Vijay Shankar pipped him for his '3D skills' as mentioned by the then chief selector MSK Prasad.

Recalling the incident, Rayudu termed it as pure stupidity by team management to consider him to be underconfident just because he's calm and quiet individual.

“That team management thought that just because I’m calm quiet and always to myself. They thought maybe I was not too confident. That’s some stupid logic these guys come up with sometimes. How can you judge someone’s confidence by looking at them,” said Rayudu on The Ranveer Show with Ranveer Allahbadia.

Further speaking ahead, he said that the team should’ve gone with Ajinkya Rahane if not him. He also took a dig at the then team management calling saying that it was not true to itself while making those decisions.

“Maybe Yes (No 4 spot was mine), that World Cup (2019) yes. I’ve said in many interviews, if not me there was Ajju (Ajinkya Rahane) there. Why didn’t you take a proper number four like Shreyas in recent World Cup. It was quite shocking. You’re going in for a World Cup not for some personal league tournament. During that phase the management was no true to itself when it comes to their decisions. However, under Rohit, he’s been captaining brilliantly,” he added.

Notably, Rayudu was touted as India’s answer to their number four problem by the then captain Virat Kohli who openly praised him in a press conference. The Andhra Pradesh-born batter scored 639 runs from 20 innings from 2018 onwards at an average of 42.6 with one hundred and four fifties to his name.

Vijay Shankar scored 58 runs and picked two wickets in WC 2019

However, despite showing faith in Rayudu for over five months, the selectors surprisingly dropped him from the side just ahead of the tournament and went ahead with all-rounder Vijay Shankar.

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The allrounder scored 58 runs from three innings played in the tournament and picked two wickets in the 32 deliveries he bowled until he got injured and got replaced by Mayank Agarwal.

Meanwhile, Rayudu never played again for India and retired from all forms of Indian cricket after the recent IPL 2023 where he was a part of Chennai Super Kings’s record-levelling fifth triumph.