Ambati Rayudu  

'I would like to bring to your kind notice that I would like to come out of retirement and play cricket in all formats,' Ambati Rayudu wrote to HCA on Thursday

Ambati Rayudu was ignored for selection when the original 15-member India squad was announced of the World Cup 2019. However, the BCCI selectors had said he was among the standby players including Rishabh Pant

With Kedar Jadhav doubtful for ICC World Cup 2019, interestingly, the selectors have named Ambati Rayudu and Axar Patel as "possible replacements" for Jadhav, if needed. These two names have sparked a big debate among Indian cricket fans

The selectors led by MSK Prasad have picked young Vijay Shankar in the squad and ignored the experienced Ambati Rayudu, who, not long, was batting at no 4 for India and many, including Indian captain Virat Kohli, had said that he is going to be India’s ‘no 4’ in the World Cup.

A highly-placed source confirmed that the MSK Prasad-led selection panel has already decided the final 15 who will travel to England on May 23 for the World Cup.

One of the main ingredients for doing well in a tournament like the World Cup is to have the right squad balance and the think tank will have its task cut out to come up with the best team combination, especially in the wake of the home series defeat to world champions Australia

Hardik Pandya's 45 off 22 balls also went a long way in India posting a challenging target and his two wickets later on showed why he is such an important member of the team.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma dominated India's ODI batting performances in 2018. Both players breached the 1,000-run mark. Kohli also completed 10,000 ODI runs this year, becoming the fastest to the milestone, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record.

'I have made a decision to retire from the longer format of the game keeping in view my injury history and my body going forward. This would help me focus on the shorter formats of the game and become much better at them and also will have time to keep my body in an extremely fit condition,' said Ambati Rayudu

It was India's third biggest victory in an ODI in terms of runs behind their 257-run win over Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup and 256-run victory against Hong Kong during the Asia Cup in 2008