New Delhi:
India’s middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu, who was in the set up since West Indies series last year was clearly hurt when he was not picked for the World Cup 2019. The selectors opted for Vijay Shankar instead and mentioned that they’d try the all-rounder at number four position. Right until the end of last year, Rayudu was a frontrunner for this position.
Skipper Virat Kohli even mentioned that they’d pick the 33-year-old in the World Cup squad. Therefore, to focus better on limited-overs cricket, he even announced his retirement from red ball cricket. However, things did not pan out as per the plans for the Hyderabad batsman. He lost his touch at the beginning of this year and had tough times in the ODI series he played in 2019.
Rayudu struggled both in Australia and New Zealand as well as in the home series in India. Except for a 90 that he scored in New Zealand, there wasn’t any notable performance from him. Thus, the selectors were forced to axe him from the squad and named him a backup player instead. This clearly hurt the feeling of Rayudu and he tweeted that he ordered 3D glasses taking a dig at the selectors as MSK Prasad had termed Vijay Shankar a 3D cricketer.
Here's the Tweet:
Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup 😉😋..
— Ambati Rayudu (@RayuduAmbati) April 16, 2019
This tweet from Ambati Rayudu has created quite a stir on social media. Fans were left in splits and it all caused a huge uproar. Many felt that the right-handed batsman targetted the cricketer from Tamil Nadu. However, in a YouTube show named ‘Breakfast with Champions’ hosted by Gaurav Kapoor, Shankar defended Rayudu and said the tweet wasn’t intended at him.
"I know for the fact that how a cricketer would feel if they are not being picked. I can understand from a player’s point of view. And I know for the fact that he didn’t mean it to me. It was just that he put that tweet for the sake of it. I can understand the situation in which he was. It is fine for any cricketer,†said Vijay Shankar answering the question about how he felt about this tweet.
