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‘He Liked Me’: Ambati Rayudu Deduces Virat Kohli Backed Him Despite 2019 World Cup Snub

Bhargav Dixit

Ambati Rayudu played 26 ODIs under Virat Kohli. [Source: @CricNadir/X]Ambati Rayudu played 26 ODIs under Virat Kohli. [Source: @CricNadir/X]

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Former India batter Ambati Rayudu doesn’t consider ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 snub under then-captain Virat Kohli as “personal”. In spite of it being a debatable decision - arguably the biggest World Cup snub in the history of Indian cricket – Rayudu considers it to be a “collective decision”.

Working as an expert for streaming platform JioHotstar during the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Rayudu put forward his opinion during an appearance on a podcast named Raw Talks With VK.

Ambati Rayudu Doesn’t Consider 2019 World Cup Snub As A Mistake

Being asked about the same almost six years after the selection call was made by former India wicket-keeper batter and chief selector MSK Prasad, Rayudu admitted that while Kohli made mistakes as a captain, whatever happened in 2019 was done for the betterment of the team.

“His [Virat Kohli’s] leadership sometimes was found wanting, which everyone knows. What [Robin] Uthappa mentioned was that during his captaincy, he made mistakes. It's not about preferences, but it's about logic, which may be at that point in time was not the right thing to do. I won't say [Virat] Kohli or Ravi Shastri [head coach] or MSK [Prasad] did that, it was a collective decision. They thought something else would be better for their team. But I don't think it was personal,” Rayudu mentioned.

Since his comeback to the national squad after more than two years during Asia Cup 2018, Rayudu had scored 639 runs at an average and strike rate of 42.60 and 84.07 respectively to have even received a public nod from Kohli around batting at No. 4 in England. However, in a last-minute U-turn, all-rounder Vijay Shankar was preferred over Rayudu.

Rayudu, who was ignored as many as three times as the selection committee chose inexperienced wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant and uncapped batter Mayank Agarwal as replacements for Shikhar Dhawan and Shankar during the competition, subsequently announced retirement from international cricket during the world event.

Robin Uthappa Accused Virat Kohli Of Partiality

During an interview with The Lallantop earlier this year, former India batter Robin Uthappa had come down strongly on Kohli’s preferential treatment towards certain players. As per Uthappa, shutting the door on Rayudu was “unfair”.

Rayudu, however, deduces that Kohli liked him. In fact, the 39-year-old credited Kohli for being able to stage a comeback to the Indian ODI squad.

“What Uthappa was trying to say is that Kohli has strong likes and dislikes. But in my case, Kohli was the one who backed me. He liked me. When I was there at his captaincy, we played many games for India. He was the one who brought me into the team,” Rayudu said.

Rayudu, who made his ODI and T20I debuts under Kohli and MS Dhoni respectively, not only played the most under the former but also performed the best under him. In 26 ODIs under Kohli, Rayudu’s 810 runs had come at 47.64 and 84.37 including two centuries and four half-centuries.