Ambati Rayudu breaks his silence on Uthappa's accusation: 'Virat was the one who...'

Former India cricketer Ambati Rayudu has broken his silence on Robin Uthappa's viral statement, where Uthappa blamed Virat Kohli for Rayudu's exclusion from the 2019 ODI World Cup team. Rayudu clarified that Kohli actually brought him back into the Indian team and fully supported him during the lead up to the ICC tournament in England.

Rayudu was India's designated No. 4 in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup tournament, having proved his worth with crucial knocks. However, he was ignored for the World Cup team as the selectors backed all-rounder Vijay Shankar for the role. The batter was further overlooked when Shankar and Shikar Dhawan were injured during the tournament.

Speaking to Lallontop in January, Uthappa accused then-captain Kohli of showing preferential treatment, saying that a player would be dropped from the team if he didn't like him. The former India wicketkeeper reckoned Rayudu was a victim of that.

"If he (Virat Kohli) didn't like anyone, he didn't feel someone was good, then they were cut. (Ambati) Rayudu is the prime example. You feel bad. Everybody has preferences, I agree, but you cannot close the door on a player after taking him to the cusp. He had World Cup clothes and a World Cup kit bag; everything was there at his home. A player would be thinking that he is going to the World Cup. But you shut the door on him. That wasn't fair according to me," Uthappa told Lallantop.

Rayudu's clarification

Speaking in a recent interview that made waves on social media, Rayudu agreed that while Kohli did have strong likes and dislikes, the skipper had backed him for the No. 4 role in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup.

"What Uthappa was trying to say is that Kohli has strong likes and dislikes. But in my case, Kohli was the one who backed me. He liked me. When I was there at his captaincy, we played many games for India. He was the one who brought me into the team. He understands the struggle because he as well is from a humble background and has played tremendous cricket. It is never easy to excel as a batter coming from Delhi. To be a world-beater, especially in white-ball cricket, it's not easy. So he has seen everything," he said.

Rayudu further said that India's decision to pick Shankar over him for the World Cup was a collective decision from the team management.

"His leadership sometimes was found wanting, which everyone knows. What Uthappa mentioned was that during his captaincy, he made mistakes. It's not about preferences, but it's about logic, which may be at that point in time was not the right thing to do. I won't say Kohli or Ravi Shastri or MSK (Prasad) did that, it was a collective decision. They thought something else would be better for their team. But I don't think it was personal," he added.

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