Ambati Rayudu takes a shot at World Cup selections with 3D jibe

Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu has "ordered 3d glasses" to watch the World Cup, a day after he was pipped by the "three-dimensional" Vijay Shankar in the Indian squad for the tournament.

All-rounder Vijay Shankar was preferred over Ambati Rayudu for the contentious No. 4 spot in India's World Cup squad. "Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the World Cup," Rayudu wrote on his Twitter handle yesterday. Rayudu's was left out of the squad just a few months after captain Virat Kohli had more or less earmarked him for the number four position.

"We did give a few more chances to Rayudu but Vijay Shankar gives three dimensions. He can bat, if the conditions are overcast, he can bowl, plus he is a fielder. We are looking at Vijay Shankar as a No. 4," chief selector MSK Prasad had said on Monday, justifying his selection. On the other hand, in his quest to ramp up his limited-overs game, Rayudu had even given up on red-ball cricket but he has struggled to be consistent.

Ambati Rayudu has played 55 ODIs for India, scoring 1694 runs at an outstanding average of 47. He has scored 10 fifties and 3 hundreds in his career so far and has a strike rate of 80.

Other surprise exclusions were Rishabh Pant and Umesh Yadav from the World Cup team.

Rishabh Pant has impressed with his excellent batting skills and is being groomed as the future wicket-keeper of the Indian team once MS Dhoni retires, but his habit of throwing his wicket away at crucial match junctures while playing for India in international cricket and for Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2019, saw him being sidelined for the more experienced Dinesh Karthik in the World Cup 2019 squad.

As soon as Ambati Rayudu put out the tweet where he is taking a dig at the selectors, his fans started commenting on his post. Here are some tweets:

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates