Ambati Rayudu debuts against Zimbabwe and scores....

In Andhra Pradesh, this place is known for Red Chillies, Cotton and tobacco and certainly not a place for grooming a Cricketer…… it gets narrower on top of pyramid ~ reaching is tough and staying is tougher. 

Not many of us would be following the present India – Zimbabwe One dayers…… in the first match Kohli scored a ton and his 84-ball 63 runs partnership with the 27 year old debutant sealed a comfortable win.  Many have played as middle order but this 27 year old has gone through many rough patches including a brawl at the middle -  this man  after a run out was attacked with stumps by Arjun Yadav, who happened to be son of administrator and Indian offie Shivlal Yadav.

A small village Bhattiprolu was originally  Pratipalapura, a flourishing Buddhist town in the ancient Sala kingdom that predated Andhra Satavahanas.  This is in Guntur, located closer to Vijayawada and Tenali.  Guntur is a centre of learning  and home of historically significant Amaravati, Undavalli caves, Kondavid Fort and Sitanagaram monuments ~ and the debutant Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu hails from this place.  He captained U19 and was referred to becoming another Sachin Tendulkar.  He has had a roughshod – having  debuted for Hyderabad way back in 2001; left for Andhra; came back to Hyd; shifted to  Baroda and has been scoring many runs. 

The latest star Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik all know him well – having played him at U19.  some more like RP Singh, Robin Uthappa, VRV Singh also represented India at some point of time ~ yet this man considered to be a precocious talent had to wait long – contributed in a big way by his decision to join the now defunct ICL and making runs there too.   IPL brought him good luck and signing Mumbai Indians took him further high up. So at last, he has earned India cap and a 63 on debut is good display of talent, good headed patience and ability to play shots.  Zimbabwe may not a formidable opponent – but still for somebody who has waited so long, the runs are worth their weight. Often people refer to his belligerent 177 at Taunton against England in U19 ODI series in Aug 2002.  Just prior to that Rayudu had scored a double ton for Hyderabad against AP and he was just 16 at that time.

By 2005,  he was watched by the new coach Greg Chappell too and everyone were commenting him to be future material.  Robin Singh was his Coach; Sandeep Patil when he was with India A. 

The Champions trophy victory is not the panacea for all the ills of Indian cricket but it did come at a right time to boost the sagging image. Now you have so many youngsters – Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Chetesh Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja – in the middle – augurs well for the team.  Rayudu has earned his way into the team and his succeeding at the top would mean a lot for the National team

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

26th July 2013.