BENGALURU: Ambati Rayudu has gone through lots of ups and downs in his cricket career, which has been plagued with some off-field action too. He joined the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2007, had several fallouts with Hyderabad Cricket Association, and also was part of ugly duels. Such things drew a poor picture of the right-hander, who showed so much promise when India U-19 toured England in 2002, scoring 177 runs in one match as a 16-year-old.
Fast forward to 2018, Rayudu lived up to his potential with superb performances in this year’s IPL. The stylish batsman’s 602 runs played a key role in helping Chennai Super Kings win the title. After that, selectors decided to pick him for the England ODI series, but things did not fall in place. Rayudu failed to clear the yo-yo test in June, ruling him out of the series. It might have been a difficult swallow to pill as he looked fit as a fiddle during the entire IPL campaign, featuring in all matches.
The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Washington Sundar have also flunked the test in the past. Rayudu, despite failing the test, is happy with the measures that have been kept in place to test fitness. “I was disappointed that I could not clear the test. I have nothing against the test, as everybody has to be at a certain fitness level while playing for India. To be honest, I believe in it.
I was disappointed in a way as to why I could not clear the test. So I worked towards it and cleared it,” Rayudu told reporters on Thursday. Though the yo-yo test has come under criticism, doors still remain open for players, provided they clear the obstacle. The same happened with Rayudu, who passed the test few days ago and earned an India A call-up for their ongoing quadrangular series in the city.
Rayudu showed that the failure had not dented his confidence. He played a wonderful innings to help India A beat Australia A by five wickets at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. After the visitors were skittled out for 151, India A also lost quick wickets (29/4).
But Rayudu’s unbeaten 62 in the company of Krunal Pandya steered his team through. “I cleared the test a few days ago. I also got a call up after that, and I’m happy to be back in the scheme of things,” added Rayudu.
India A will next face India B, who beat South Africa A by five wickets on Thursday, in Alur on Saturday.
Brief scores: South Africa A 231 in 47.3 ovs (S Muthuswamy 55, F Berhardien 43; Prasidh Krishna 4/49, S Gopal 3/42) lost to India B 214/5 in 40.3 ovs (M Pandey 95 n.o, S Gill 42). Australia A 151 in 31.4 ovs (M Siraj 4/68, K Gowtham 3/31) lost to India A 152/5 in 38.3 ovs (A Rayudu 62 n.o, K Pandya 49; J Richardson 3/27).