The 2023 season of the IPL ended in a blaze of glory for Hyderabad’s prolifically talented cricketer Ambati Rayudu and his team Chennai Super Kings. For the batsman from Hyderabad, it was a fairy-tale finish to a fantastic IPL career. Over a period of 14 years, Rayudu has played a mammoth 204 matches and bagged the coveted IPL trophy six times. Nobody could ask for more.
His best season in the IPL was in 2018 when he hammered 602 runs for Chennai Super Kings. Not a single bowler was spared punishment as the runs flowed like a tsunami from Rayudu’s bat.
Rayudu’s career is a story of hard work and dedication not only by himself but also by his father Sambasiva Rao who used to ferry him from his school to cricket fields all over the twin cities on his two-wheeler when Rayudu was too young.
Even when he was a beginner in cricket, Rayudu was a player of immense talent. For India, he played 61 limited-overs matches for the national team as a reliable middle-order batsman. Sometimes he also showed his skill as a wicketkeeper as well as an off-spin bowler.
In 1992 Rayudu’s father took him to the cricket academy that was being run by former Hyderabad first-class cricketer Vijaya Paul and there Rayudu’s career flourished. This writer was told by Vijaya Paul that Rayudu’s father was a huge motivation for Rayudu and kept him going. Whenever Rayudu was playing or practicing cricket, his father used to stand at the side of the ground and watch his son and how he was performing.
Rayudu began his career by playing for the Hyderabad youth teams in the late 1990s. He played for the Under-16 and Under-19 levels and got a place in the India Under-15 side for the ACC Under-15 Trophy. There he finished as the leading run-scorer of the tournament and bagged the Man of the Match award in the final against Pakistan.
He made his first-class debut for Hyderabad at the age of 16 in the Ranji trophy tournament. It was a notable achievement indeed for a boy so young. While playing only his third Ranji game, Rayudu scored 210 and 159 not out against Andhra in the same match which made him a contender for an India cap. With that knock, he also became the youngest player in the history of the Ranji Trophy to score a double century and a century in the same match.
In one season when Hyderabad was relegated to the Plate division, Rayudu switched his allegiance to Baroda. There he finished as Baroda’s leading run-getter with 566 runs in nine matches including an unbeaten double hundred. In the 2011-2012 Ranji season, he averaged 48.75 with two centuries. He was then recalled to the India A squad on its New Zealand tour and scored 105 and 26 not out against New Zealand A.
In 2013 Rayudu was selected for a second-string Indian squad for the tour of Zimbabwe. He made his international debut in the first ODI of the series, on 24th July 2013, and played a crucial role in India’s victory. In domestic cricket, Rayudu has represented Hyderabad, Andhra, Baroda and Vidarbha while in the IPL he has been picked up by Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
In the final late last night, Rayudu contributed a quick-fire 19 off 8 balls as CSK chased down a revised target of 171 in 15 overs. “I am fortunate to have played for great teams in the IPL. After 30 years of hard work, I can at last look back at my career with satisfaction. I am glad to have ended on a winning note,” Rayudu told the media.
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