Sunil Gavaskar thinks that one of the main reasons Rayudu was fired was that he didn’t play against Rajasthan Royals and was only brought in as an impact player.
Not just MS Dhoni is possibly playing in his first IPL season this year for the Chennai Super Kings. Ambati Rayudu is also nearing the end of his career. He is not playing at his very best level with the bat, unlike Dhoni.
He has mainly been used by CSK as a batter or an Impact Player during this IPL season. In place of Aakash Singh, a left-arm pacer Rayudu was added as an impact player.
Ambati Rayudu’s selection as an impact player is criticized by Sunil Gavaskar.
Rayudu attempted to play a big shot against RR’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in CSK’s 203-run chase. He was out for a second-ball duck. He attempted a big slog sweep but failed to time it correctly and holed out at deep mid-wicket.
Sunil Gavaskar believes “that one of the main causes of that was the absence of Rayudu from the game up until that point. He was selected as an Impact Player and did not play defence. So it is likely that he was not properly warmed up.”
To further illustrate his point Gavaskar used “Prithvi Shaw, a batter for the Delhi Capitals. You must field. You can’t just walk up to the plate and start hitting the ball. That is not something you can do.”
“That is something Prithvi Shaw has demonstrated. He’s been attempting to come out to bat lately without success. No fielding means no points. Gavaskar remarked on commentary when Rayudu was out, “Rayudu is out for a second-ball duck”.
RR decided to bat and used Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 43-ball 77 to reach a respectable 202 for five. RR got off to a great start as Jaiswal and Jos Buttler (27 off 21) combined for 86 runs in 8-point 2 overs.
In order to push RR past the 200-run threshold. Young Dhruv Jurel scored 34 off 15 balls and Devdutt Padikkal finished unbeaten on 23 off 13 deliveries. Tushar Deshpande took two wickets for CSK and surrendered 42 runs in four overs.
As they were only able to reach 170 for six when chasing. CSK never seemed to be in the game as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
The top scorers for CSK were opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (47 off 29) and Shivam Dube (52 off 33). With three wickets taken for RR, Adam Zampa conceded 22 runs.
