3 Players who could have been considered ahead of Mayank Agarwal

Australia v India: Carlton Mid ODI Tri Series - Game 5

#1 Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu’s case has been one of the most peculiar cases in Indian cricket. He burst onto the scene in the 2004 U19 world cup and was touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket. Rayadu had to wait 9 years before he finally made his debut against Zimbabwe in 2013 and ironically he batted at number 4 in that game.

Over the past 15 months, Ambati Rayudu has been India’s number 4 for most games. He had a good Asia Cup and followed that with an outstanding home series against the Windies. The team management, the captain and the vice-captain publicly backed him and many felt he had sealed his position for the 2019 World Cup. Rayudu even retired from first-class cricket to focus only on the white ball game and more importantly the World Cup.

However, things changed very soon. Rayudu had poor away tours to Australia and New Zealand. He scored 214 runs in seven games and only 33 runs in 3 innings against Australia at home. Moreover, with the arrival of young players like Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar made it difficult for Rayudu to cement his place in the team. The team finally zeroed in on Shankar and Rayudu was named as one of the standby players.

Post the injury to Shankar, Rayudu would have been the perfect player to fill the number 4 spot. He has experience and is a very smart cricketer. The Hyderabad batsman reads the game well and could have had a fairytale ending to his career.

Post Agarwal’s announcement, Ambati Rayudu decided to move on from international cricket and decided to retire.