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Ambati Rayudu Comes Out Of Retirement, Wants To Play All Forms Of Cricket

In a letter to Hyderabad Cricket Association, Rayudu said he has enough cricket left in him and the decision to retire was taken in an emotional state.
File image of Ambati Rayudu.
Danish Siddiqui / Reuters
File image of Ambati Rayudu.

India batsman Ambati Rayudu has made a u-turn on his decision to retire and made himself available for Hyderabad in domestic cricket, according to reports.

In a letter to Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), Rayudu said he would like to come out of retirement and play cricket in all formats.

“I want to thank Chennai Super Kings, VVS Laxman and Noel David who have been very supportive during the tough time and are instrumental in making me realise that I have enough cricket left in me and the decision to retire was taken in an emotional state and in haste,” ANI quoted him as saying.

Rayudu was not picked in India’s squad for the 2019 World Cup in England after being tipped as the team’s top choice for a middle-order batting spot.

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He was also ignored despite injury to all-rounder Vijay Shankar. He quit first-class cricket in 2018 to focus on his limited-overs career and announced last month that he has retired from all forms of the game.

″...I have come to the 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,” Rayudu said in his mail to the BCCI, which PTI accessed.

Skipper Virat Kohli called Rayudu a “top man” after the retirement announcement.

Rayadu has, however, now informed the HCA of his availability. “He has withdrawn his retirement letter that he gave and said he’s available to play for HCA,” Ratnakar Shetty, a member of the committee in charge of the HCA administration, told Reuters.

Rayudu will be available to play the full season for Hyderabad and it was a “good” news for the team, Shetty added.

The middle-order batsman has played 55 one-day internationals for India, the last of them in March against Australia, and was part of the Chennai Super Kings franchise in the 2019 Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

(With PTI and Reuters inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.