Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Wednesday. The announcement came days after the Indian batsman was snubbed for selection for India's World Cup campaign, even after injuries to two players in the squad.
Despite him being in the reserves for the tournament, Shikhar Dhawan was replaced by Rishabh Pant, while Mayank Agarwal was called in place of Vijay Shankar.
Rayudu, 33, played 55 ODIs for India and was part of the limited-overs squad until India's last international assignment before the World Cup, against Australia. He scored 1694 runs with an average of 47.05, slamming three centuries and 10 half-centuries.
The batsman earlier hung his boots in the first-class cricket last year to focus on the limited-overs format.
In a mail to the BCCI, Rayudu confirmed that he would be retiring from all formats, but didn't state the reason for the same. Here's the full text from the mail:
"I would like to bring to your kind notice that I have come to decision to step away from the sport and retire from all forms and levels of the game. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the BCCI and all the state associations that I have represented which include Hyderabad, Baroda, Andhra and Vidharbha. I also would like to thank the two IPL franchises MI and CSK for their support. It has been a honour and privilege to have represented our country.
"I would like to thank the captains I have played under, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and especially Virat Kohli who always had shown great belief in me throughout my career with the Indian team. It has been a wonderful journey of playing the sport and learning from every up and down it brought up on for the last 25 years at various different levels. Finally I would like to thank my family and all the wellwishers who have been with me throughout this wonderful journey.
Thanking you sir,
Yours sincerely
Ambati Rayudu."
