Almost three years into his abrupt and unceremonious decision to quit all forms of international cricket, India batsman Ambati Rayudu is eager to extend his playing days by at least three more years.
He had announced retirement after being snubbed from the team squad for the ICC ODI World Cup in 2019 but has been an active member of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League until the last edition earlier this year.
He has also been playing domestic cricket in India and played for Andhra Pradesh in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. Discussing his time on the field in the tournament, Rayudu said that he could sustain through five 50-over matches in a span of six days and hence he believes his fitness is at par and in good shape to allow him to play for the next three years.
“I recently played the Vijay Hazare Trophy which is five one-day games in six days which I got through well. I am in good shape and I hope to continue to play at least for the next three years,” PTI quoted Rayudu as saying.
Rayudu made his ODI debut in the year 2013 against Zimbabwe while his debut in the shortest format came against England in 2014. He could not get the opportunity to play in the longest format for India despite being in the scheme of things for a long time.
He bemoaned missing out on the opportunity to play Test cricket as “unfortunate” but said that he has no regrets about it and rather savours representing the country in the other two formats.
“It is a great honour to represent India and I am happy that I represented India in the white-ball format - ODIs and T20s,” he said. “I feel unfortunate about missing out on the Test cap. But I don’t regret it as I have given my best. I am happy for the opportunities I got to represent the team and that in itself is a great honour.”
Rayudu was not retained by the Super Kings for the next editions of the IPL and he will have to go through the mega auction to find a new base in the tournament.