Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu (Telugu: అంబటి రాయుడు; born September 23, 1985 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh), is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler.

Rayudu is a middle order batsman. In 2005-2007, he was touted as a potential member of the Indian national team due to his excellent batting skills. He completed his schooling from Bhavan's Sri Rama Krishna Vidyalaya. He is married to Chennupalli Vidya and lives in Hyderabad. He was once banned from Indian cricket due to his signing with the rebel ICL. Subsequently Rayudu left the ICL and, following an amnesty offer from BCCI, returned to Indian domestic cricket.

Youth Career

Rayudu was selected to represent the India Under-19 cricket team in the 2002 tour of England. In the third One Day match he scored 177, helping his side to overhaul England's total of 305. In an earlier match he had performed a similar role when his 80 laid the foundation for a victorious run-chase as the Indians defeated their English counterparts 3–0 in the ODI series. In the 2004/2005 three-test series against England Under-19, he scored three consecutive half-centuries. Rayudu captained the India Under-19 team in the 2003/2004 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was also a regular in the India A squad. He was also awarded the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year Award in 2004 along with 4 other players.^[1]

Ranji Trophy Career

Rayudu made his debut in domestic cricket in the 2001/02 Ranji Trophy season for Hyderabad. After Feuds with HCA in 2005, he left the team to play for Andhra State Ranji Team for one year. Later after a disappointing season, he went back to play for Hyderabad next season. He ran into trouble with the son of Shivlal Yadav, resulting in an ugly spat where Rayudu was attacked by Arjun Yadav with stumps after the latter was dismissed.

This was not the anticipated start for the lad from Andhra Pradesh who was once considered as the next generation Sachin Tendulkar for his performance in the England U-19 tour.

In 2010, Rayudu decided to play for Baroda after his former team Hyderabad got relegated to the Plate Division of Ranji Trophy. Rayudu continued to impress with the bat as he scored 566 runs in 9 matches with an average of 56.60 including a double hundred and three half centuries.

Indian Cricket League (2007–2009)

Rayudu joined ICL, a rebel group to Indian Domestic Cricket, on August 16, 2007 with six other players from Hyderabad Cricket Association. BCCI was shocked over this surprising event and had geared up to convene on August 21, 2007. After his association with the ICL, he was dropped from the state team, but he continued to play in the ICL for Hyderabad Heroes.

Indian Premier League (2010–present)

Rayudu was with the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2010 as a middle order batsmen/part-time wicketkeeper. His performance won many positive reviews from the critics and he was touted as a big name to be watched in the next IPL season. Being classified as an uncapped player, Rayudu was not a part of the IPL 2011 auction. Immediately after the auction, Siddhartha Mallya, Team Director of Royal Challengers Bangalore and son of RCB's owner Vijay Mallya flew to Vadodara and was seen meeting Rayudu during the Ranji Trophy final between Rajasthan and Baroda. The exact nature of the talks was unknown, but it was speculated that Rayudu rejected the offer. Mumbai Indians, who gave Rayudu a second chance after coming back from the ICL, bagged him for the 2011 season of IPL. He had another impressive season that year, scoring 395 runs in 16 matches, including 4 half-centuries. He scored a six of the last ball of the last league match against Kolkata Knight Riders to win the game on May 22 2011, when a boundary was required. James Franklin was crucial in setting up Rayudu's last ball heroics by scoring 4 boundaries in that over and a single off of the 5th ball to give Rayudu the strike. The bowler on the receiving end of this was Lakshmipathy Balaji.

External links

• Player profile: Ambati Rayudu from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Ambati Rayudu from CricketArchive