Ambati Rayudu and social media are an interesting match. They don't meet that often but whenever they do, sparks fly on most occasions. There are not many Indian cricket fans who are unaware of Rayudu's "3-D glasses" tweet after being ignored for India's 2019 ODI World Cup squad. The then BCCI chairman of selectors MSK Prasad described the cricketer - Vijay Shankar - preferred over Rayudu for the World Cup as a 3-D cricketer for his ability to contribute in all three departments of the game. He had a run with former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin regarding Hyderabad Cricket Association and took a long break from social media after that only to return the next year. A year later, he announced his retirement from all forms of cricket out of the blue and then deleted a few hours later on the insistence of MS Dhoni and the CSK management.
Rayudu or ATR as he calls himself on the microblogging site currently, now without a blue tick thanks to Twitter's new policy of abolishing legacy verification badges, started tweeting again from April this year. After a few normal tweets, the right-hander once again grabbed headlines on Friday. He posted a motivational tweet after CSK's defeat to Rajasthan Royals in an IPL 2023 match in Jaipur.
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"In life and sport ups and downs are a constant part. We need to be positive and keeping working hard and things will turn around.. results are not always a measure of our effort. So always keeping smiling and enjoy the process," he wrote.
The fact that the tweet came after he was criticised by legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for getting out for a second-ball duck after coming in as an Impact Player, it was perceived to be a reply to the former India captain.
{{/usCountry}}The fact that the tweet came after he was criticised by legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for getting out for a second-ball duck after coming in as an Impact Player, it was perceived to be a reply to the former India captain.
{{/usCountry}}After reports related Rayudu's tweet with Gavaskar's "no fielding, no runs" comments, the former came up with a hard-hitting tweet to end the speculation.
"What nonsense… my tweet has nothing to do with the great mr Gavaskars comments.. his opinions are well respected and in regards to my fielding. A player doesn’t decide if he wants to field or not," he said.
Gavaskar basically criticised Rayudu for turning up as an Impact Player without spending any time on the field. The new Impact Player rule allows teams to introduce any of the five previously nominated players to be drafted into the XI in place of another player at any point in the match.
Rayudu replaced CSK left-arm pacer Aakash Singh but was out for a second-ball duck. CSK lost the match by 32 runs.