Ambati Rayudu is an Indian cricketer who was born on 23th of September 1985, even though he occasionally keeps wickets, and bowls right-arm off breaks, his main role is being a right-handed middle-order batsman. Currently, in domestic cricket he captains Hyderabad in Ranji Trophy.
Rayudu began his career playing for Hyderabad youth teams in the late-1990s, playing at the Under-16 and Under-19 levels. He appeared for India Under-15s at the ACC Under-15 Trophy in 2000, finishing as the leading run-scorer of the tournament as well as winning the Man of the Match award in the final against Pakistan. He began his first-class career with Hyderabad cricket team in the year 2002 at a very young age of 16. In the 2002-03 Ranji Trophy, he became the youngest player in the history of the tournament to score a double century and a century in the same match. Rayudu scored 210 and 159 not out against Andhra and finished the season with a total of 698 runs at an average of 69.80 to finish third on the leading run-scorers list.
He captained the India Under-19 team at the 2004 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh where India finished as the semi-finalists. On India Under-19 tour of England, his maiden Under-19 assignment, Rayudu batted as an opener and made a total of 291 runs from 3 innings and finished as the highest run-getter of a series which India swept 3–0.
The talented right-hand batsman was snaffled up by by Mumbai Indians prior to IPL 2011 when all IPL squads got a makeover. And quickly became a prolific run scorer for the team. In the 2015 season, Rayudu made 281 runs at a S/R of 145 and remained not out on five occasions. In the eight seasons that he played there, Rayudu scored 250 in every season except the 2017 season after which he was let go and the Chennai Super Kings availed his services. The 2018 season with the Men-in-Yellow proved to be his most fruitful year as he piled on 602 runs and scored his maiden century in the league. However, the 2019 season was a bit sedate for him and he will be looking to make amends in UAE.
Ambati Rayudu made his international debut in July 2013, in an One Day International against Zimbabwe. Rayudu was selected in a second string Indian squad in this tour and he played a crucial part in setting up India win. He made 63 runs, making him the 12th Indian batsman to score a half-century on ODI debut. He was a part of India’s ODI squad as reserve batsman even though he had made only two appearances across the four home ODI series against Australia, West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand. He also played in all matches of 2014 Asia Cup.
Rayudu averaged 19.33 in the tri-series against Australia and England and was selected in India's 15-member squad for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which reached the semifinal. Rayudu, however, did not feature in a single game in the tournament, with India preferring to stick to a combination that hadn’t lost until the semifinal against Australia. In the subsequent tour of Zimbabwe, Rayudu scored an unbeaten 124 in the first ODI at Harare and won the man of the match award. He scored 41 in the next match before suffering an injury that ruled him out of the tour.
Some good performances in the IPL and a steady run-making stint with the Indian team meant that Rayudu was all set to be included in the 2019 World Cup squad. But some indifferent form prior to the World Cup meant that his spot went to Vijay Shankar whom the selectors defined as a 3-d player. Rayudu got really anguished by the axing and soon announced his retirement from international cricket.
Rayudu was picked as the replacement player for the injured Manoj Tiwary for the T20I series against England in 2012. However, he did not feature in the playing eleven in either of the two matches. Rayudu eventually made his T20I debut against England two years later on 7 September 2014. Since then, he played only 6 T20Is and scored 42 runs with his last match coming against South Africa on 5 October 2015.
Ambati Rayudu was born on 23 September 1985 to Sambasiva Rao and Vijayalakshmi in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Throughout his career, the fiery-headed Rayudu has been involved in confrontations with players and umpires. Rayudu married his college friend, Chennupalli Vidya on 14 February 2009.
