The chief selector of the Indian Cricket Team, MSK Prasad, on Sunday, opened up on Ambati Rayudu’s provocative and controversial ‘3D Glasses’ tweet.
Mr. Prasad went on to reveal that he enjoyed the ‘creative’ and ‘timely’ tweet.
“Coming back to the tweet, frankly speaking, that was a lovely tweet, I really enjoyed it. Seriously, it was a very timely one. I don’t know how it struck him but I really enjoyed it.”
Rayudu recently announced his retirement from international cricket after being ignored and not picked in the 15 member squad for the 2019 World Cup.
The right-handed player was all set to bat at No. 4 in the team but things changed and the wheel of fortune turned against him after his poor performance in the India vs Australia home series in March this year.
The selectors chose Vijay Shankar over Rayudu mentioning the former as a “three-dimensional” player who can contribute in all the 3 departments of the game. As a result, Rayudu took to Twitter (on April 16) and expressed his sarcastic views:
Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup 😉😋..
— ATR (@RayuduAmbati) April 16, 2019
Prasad, however, cleared the air by saying that the selection panel was not biased and in fact, had nothing against a particular player.
“There were certain programmes to see Ambati Rayudu comes into the setup. We (Selection Committee) don’t have anything against a particular player. When Rayadu was picked for ODIs on the basis of his T20 performance, there was criticism, but we had some thoughts about him. When he failed the fitness test, we put him for a fitness program. Due to certain combinations, he wasn’t picked, it doesn’t make Selection Committee biased,” Prasad said.
On Sunday, July 21, the selection committee led by Prasad announced both the limited-overs and Test squads for India’s tour of West Indies next month. Virat Kohli will lead the team in all three formats. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been rested. Rohit Sharma, who notched up 5 centuries in the recent World Cup, will be returning in Tests, whereas, Shikhar Dhawan will be back in action post his thump injury.
