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Unfair to drop Ambati Rayudu, Gambhir slams team management

Samarth Parikh
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Ambati Rayudu has always been regarded as a great talent in Indian cricket but somehow his lack of consistency has been a roadblock for him in making a permanent place in the Indian team. Over the years, he has played some great innings, but he has been particularly incredible for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2018.

Rayudu was Chennai Super Kings’ leading run-getter in IPL 2018 and earned his place back in the Indian side after his contribution towards CSK’s third IPL title. However, just before the England tour, Rayudu failed to pass the mandatory Yo-Yo fitness test which led to his omission from the squad.

The Yo-yo test has sparked off a huge debate in recent times, especially after Rayudu lost a spot in Indian team for the tour of England and many experts have raised questions regarding the need of the test.

Recently, opening batsman, Gautam Gambhir has slammed the team management for dropping Rayudu from the squad by saying that the batsman’s exclusion was unfair.

Gautam Gambhir said that the management must put more stress on the players’ performance and it should be the responsibility of the trainer to help the player attain the fitness standards.

“What is more important is performance. Suppose if a certain player is scoring close to 15 in yo-yo test, then it is the responsibility of the trainer to improve his fitness and take him to 16.1 or whatever the benchmark is. If they are bringing in fit players itself then what is the job of the trainer?’ said Gambhir while speaking to Aaj Tak.

Rayudu was the fourth highest run-getter of the IPL 2018. He worked extremely hard to aggregate 602 runs in 16 matches at an average of 43 and an impressive strike-rate of 149.75. In spite of such a performance, dropping him from the squad was unfair according to Gambhir.

“Rayudu performed exceptionally well in the IPL but he was dropped only because of yo-yo test. If his score was around 14.5, the team management should’ve given him one month to work with the trainer and improve his fitness in order to clear the yo-yo test. Even if he wouldn’t have achieved the score then it was fair to drop him.

“You never know India would’ve won the ODI series against England by 2-1 if Rayudu would’ve played in the middle-order where the visitors struggled,” the former Indian opener added on the show.

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