MORE THAN UNLUCKY

 

What if I say that a guy averaging 45+ in both the ODI’s and first class barely manages to play just a few international matches for India and moreover what if I add onto it 6 trophies of the most competitive T20 league in the world – THE IPL. Would someone believe that such a career exists in real? but the bitter fact is that it does exist and it all happened not in the 90’s era due to some politics or favoritism, rather it happened in the previous era and many cricket fans witnessed the extent to which a sport like cricket can be cruel to you.

This is the story of a veteran in his own self, a dark complexed short aggressive player from the south. This is about whom CSK fans named as the BAHUBALI- “AMBATI RAYUDU”.

For those who have heard his name finds him quite an ordinary player who never got chances due to the complex team combination in his playing days but those who have followed him closely knows that there is other side of the story as well. How can even someone who captained team India U-19 in 2004 had to wait so many years till 2013 to break into the national side. Now here some people would argue that the same happened with Unmukt Chand in 2012, but for their clarification Unmukt got a high number of chances in the IPL as he was considered as a prodigy in those days but he failed to perform, further he did not provide that flexibility to bat at any position till the middle order like Rayudu did whose name was just lost after the tournament.

Struggling through all those years facing the side effects of disputes among various state cricket boards in the south he finally managed to get a debut match in the year 2013 against Zimbabwe. The so called a period of vicissitude ended for him when made his name and cemented his position in the Mumbai Indians. This man showed the world how much flexible he is when it comes to batting at different orders, be it coming down the order to play quick fire cameos for the MI or acting as a savior for the team by handling and resisting different collapses in many matches, this man excelled in all in his prime.

When peers of his age group like Suresh Raina MS DHONI already were starting to shelf and preserve their names in the record books, he was hopeful to cement his place in the Indian Team. After winning 3 titles with MI, they had to release him for the auction and the things changed for his greater good when he was being picked up by the CSK (team led by MSD) in 2018. He gained his peak in those years and Dhoni who was finding a reliable opening batsman for his team tried him as an opener with Shane Watson but little did, he knew that this decision would do wonders for both his team and Rayudu.

In that edition of IPL, he thrashed all the bowlers out of the park and played a huge role in making CSK a third time IPL champion in the 2018. This opened the doors for the national side. Finally, a man who dreamt to play for India at a highest level could make his name big and permanent in the team who was thriving to get a good batsman at no.4 position for the upcoming 2019 world cup, the biggest event of the sport. The stage was set for him and he had to just carry his good form at no. 4 for one more year and that’s what he did.

ICT had a sense of relief when they all witnessed Rayudu forming amazingly well for the team through his in between match winning knocks. At the time the Indian captain (Virat Kohli) got so impressed with his performance and in a post-match presentation when he was being asked about the role of Rayudu in the team, he confidently said that “there is no doubt that we have found a solution to the no.4 problem and its Ambati Rayudu.

But as all the happiness regarding his career was short term this dream of representing his nation in the mega event like World Cup was also short lived. Rayudu who was believed to be the “cornerstone” of the middle order was being thrashed out of the team when MSK PRASAD (the chairman of selection committee in 2019) announced the team to fly to England. Moreover, the reason that still haunts me today for his exclusion is completely illogical senseless. During the press conference MSK PRASAD stated that the main reason for his exclusion is Vijay Shankar who was then named as a 3D player who can contribute and excel in all the areas in batting, bowling and fielding. But now when we see this decision various critics often laugh at the stupidness of MSK PRASAD that what triggered him to back a player with no international experience to straightway go ahead than someone experienced like Rayudu who waited years for this opportunity and moreover was in his prime.

Now whether that decision was of Virat as it is strongly believed that it is a captain who tells the selector what type of team he wants and who will be his troops for a 2-month long battle or was it solely of MSK PRASAD is still questionable. As always in sad and despair known for this short tempered, he published a tweet declaring his retirement in the international cricket as he could not handle more and took a dig at selectors that he ordered a pair of 3D glasses to watch the world cup.

Being retired for long from international career in 2022 when he was in the bad form in the IPL, he convicted that he was the main reason behind the team failure and again tweeted his retirement from the IPL too. But thankfully this time credits to Dhoni he figured out that there were few more years left in him to play cricket and this proved to be right when during this year’s IPL final when all the experts believed that it was Gujarat’s game he quietly came and hit 16 of just 3 balls. These 16 runs when looked from a normal match perspective are not a huge score but the time when these 16 runs came were enough to make sure that CSK clinch another and their 5^th IPL title.

All those hardships, the ups and downs of the career came to an end this time. When the cameras were pointed towards Dhoni and Jadeja after the win there was Rayudu too was being captured crying in the ground after playing last knock of his career and that too in the winning cause. Dhoni did not let to go that in vain and did a heartwarming gesture by calling him to lift the trophy firstly during the celebrations.

Yes, people remember the famous knocks of the superstars of the game like Virat, Dhoni and Steve Smith but equally important is to recognize such knocks and such careers too. They may not have contributed as much as the other players did but what matters the most is that THEY TRIED THEIR BEST…