Why is Ambati Rayudu not part of Texas Super Kings for MLC 2023?

Ambati Rayudu is one of the curious absentees from the Texas Super Kings' squad for Major League Cricket 2023.

The middle-order Indian batter, who was a crucial part of Chennai Super Kings' title triumph in IPL 2023, pulled out of the tournament citing "personal reasons". The Texas-based franchise had confirmed his inclusion only the previous month.

"Ambati Rayudu will not be available to participate in the first season of the MLC with Texas Super Kings due to personal reasons," Texas Super Kings, which is the sister franchise of Chennai Super Kings, said in a statement.

"He will continue to cheer for the team from India," the franchise added.

Although neither Rayudu nor Texas Super Kings explained the development, the move came only hours after a report by The Indian Express suggested that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was planning to introduce a "cooling-off" period to prevent cricketers from joining leagues immediately after retirement.

The report came after the board's Apex Council meeting in Mumbai. Secretary Jay Shah had said the board will come out with a policy to prevent "pre-determined" retirements of cricketers.

“We’ll come out with a policy to prevent the trend of pre-determined retirement. The office bearers will make a policy and send it back for approval,” Shah said.

According to the report, this policy was likely to be a cooling-off period where the players can't join a foreign private league for a certain time after retiring, including IPL retirements.

Like the CSK star, a few players in the past joined a foreign T20 or T10 league soon after retiring from international cricket or the IPL.

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Who have Texas Super Kings replaced Ambati Rayudu with for MLC 2023?

The MLC franchise on Wednesday announced South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir as Rayudu's replacement for the 2023 season.

Although they would miss the batter's 200-IPL-matches worth of experience (where he scored 4348 runs), Tahir would enhance competition and provide a bit of character to the team.

Tahir has 82 wickets from 59 IPL matches at an average of 20.77.