Rayudu started his career in the late 1990s, playing for Hyderabad youth teams at the Under-16 and Under-19 ranks. In 2000, he played for India Under-15s in the ACC Under-15 Trophy, emerging as the tournament’s top run-scorer and receiving the Man of the Match award in the final against Pakistan. At the age of 16, he started his first-class career with the Hyderabad cricket team in 2002.In the Ranji Trophy’s 2002-03 season, he became the tournament’s youngest player to score a double century and a century in the same match. Rayudu ended the season with a total of 698 runs at an average of 69.80 to place third on the top run-scorers list.
At the 2004 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, he captained the Indian Under-19 side, which finished in the semi-finals. Rayudu batted as an opener on India’s Under-19 tour of England, his first Under-19 assignment, and scored 291 runs in three innings, finishing as the series’ top run-getter in a series that India swept 3–0.
IPL Career
The Mumbai Indians snatched up the young right-hand batsman prior to the 2011 IPL, when all IPL squads received a makeover. And he soon established himself as the team’s leading run scorer. Rayudu hit 281 runs with a S/R of 145 in 2015, and he went undefeated on five occasions. Rayudu scored 250 runs in each of his eight seasons with the team, with the exception of the 2017 season, when he was released and his services were acquired by the Chennai Super Kings. His most productive season with the Men-in-Yellow came in 2018, when he racked up 602 runs and scored his first century in the league. However, he had a quiet season in 2019, and he’ll be trying to make up for it in the UAE.
International Career
In July 2013, Ambati Rayudu made his international debut against Zimbabwe in a One Day International. Rayudu was named to a second-string Indian squad for this tour, and he was instrumental in India’s victory. He scored 63 runs on his ODI debut, making him the 12th Indian batsman to reach the half-century mark. Despite only making two appearances in the four home ODI series against Australia, West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand, he was named to India’s ODI squad as a reserve batsman. He also appeared in all of the 2014 Asia Cup matches.
Rayudu averaged 19.33 in the tri-series against Australia and England and was named to India’s 15-member World Cup team, which advanced to the semifinals. Rayudu, on the other hand, did not appear in a single game during the tournament, as India preferred to stick with a lineup that had not lost since the quarterfinals against Australia. Rayudu went on to win the man of the match award in the following tour of Zimbabwe, where he posted an undefeated 124 in the first ODI at Harare. In the next match, he scored 41 points before sustaining an injury that forced him to withdraw from the tour.
Rayudu was expected to be named in the 2019 World Cup squad after some strong results in the IPL and a consistent run-making stint with the Indian side. However, due to his poor form leading up to the World Cup, his place was taken by Vijay Shankar, who was classified as a 3-d player by the selectors. Rayudu was devastated by his dismissal and declared his retirement from international cricket shortly after.
For the T20I series against England in 2012, Rayudu was selected as a substitute player for the injured Manoj Tiwary. In none of the two contests, he was included in the starting lineup. Two years later, on September 7, 2014, Rayudu made his T20I debut against England. He has only played six T20Is since then, scoring 42 runs in the process, with his most recent match coming against South Africa on October 5, 2015.
Family
mbati Rayudu was born on September 23, 1985, in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, to Sambasiva Rao and Vijayalakshmi. Rayudu has had many altercations with players and umpires throughout the course of his career. Rayudu married Chennupalli Vidya, a college acquaintance, on February 14, 2009.