WI v IND 2019: MSK Prasad says that he 'enjoyed' Ambati Rayudu's tweet, sent after World Cup spot snub
What's the story?
MSK Prasad, the chief selector of the Indian Cricket Team said that he enjoyed Ambati Rayudu's '3D tweet' as he felt that the tweet was well-timed, which was in reaction to the selection committee overlooking the Hyderabad-based batsman's inclusion in the World Cup 2019 squad.
In case you didn't know
When the Indian team picked to represent the nation at the World Cup was announced by MSK Prasad, the former Indian cricketer mentioned that the fact that Vijay Shankar was a 'three-dimensional cricketer' who could help the team in all departments, which favored Shankar's inclusion over Rayudu.
Additionally, Rayudu was a part of the World Cup reserves list but was overlooked on multiple occasions when Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar both picked up injuries, with youngsters Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal called up to the squad.
Heart of the matter
Post the announcement of India's squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, the chief selector was asked to hand out his views with respect to the '3D tweet'.
"Lovely tweet, I really enjoyed it. It was timely. Fantastic," said Prasad as he also shed light on why the 34-year old batsman was not picked in the World Cup squad.
"There were certain programmes to see Ambati Rayudu comes into the setup. We (selection committee) don't have anything against a particular player," the chief selector was quoted saying as part of the post-announcement press conference.
The chief selector pointed out that the selection committee was criticized when they picked Ambati Rayudu based on his T20 performances but soon revealed that Rayudu was not picked owing to the fact that he was not fitting in the team combination. Prasad further emphasized on the fact that the selection committee which is headed by him is not biased.
"When Rayadu was picked for ODIs based on his T20 performance, there was criticism, but we had some thoughts about him. When he failed the fitness test, we put him for a fitness program. Due to certain combinations, he wasn't picked, it doesn't make Selection Committee biased," said Prasad.
Having failed to make the cut into the World Cup squad, in April, Ambati Rayudu took to twitter and vented out his frustration. Further, despite injuries to two key players in the squad, Rayudu was still overlooked, and irked by the decisions, the batsman called time on his career.
What's next?
The Indian Team are set to tour the West Indies for a series of three T20Is, three ODIs and two test matches, beginning with the first T20I on 3rd August at Florida.
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