Ambati Rayudu fulfills dream of ‘fairytale finish’ to career

The spotlight fell primarily on MS Dhoni in the early hours of Tuesday morning after ‘Captain Cool’ led the Chennai Super Kings to their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title with a victory over Gujarat Titans in the star-studded final in Ahmedabad.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja would steal some of his thunder with two outrageous shots off the last two deliveries of the tournament, sealing the dramatic victory and regaining the love and respect of the ‘Yellow Army’ that appeared to have been lost or strained during the course of the season.

It was an emotional affair for MSD and for the rest of the team, and rightly so, given the speculation surrounding his possible retirement at the end of the season, although Dhoni would later hint at making another appearance in the yellow jersey.

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There was one individual who did not hog as much of the limelight as some of the others did during the title celebrations. Ambati Rayudu had already announced his intention to hang up his boots after the final regardless of the result.

The mercurial individual that he is, Rayudu had abruptly announced his international retirement in 2019 after not getting picked by the Indian team for the World Cup in England that year. He would pull off a similar move in the IPL last year, announcing it to be his final season in a tweet only to delete it later and cause confusion among journalists and fans.

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This time, however, there was a sense of finality in his decision to hang up his boots and Rayudu himself promised he would not be making a “U-turn” on his decision. And when the time came for one last swing of the bat, Rayudu sure made it count.

Sure the victory was a proper team effort: from Dhoni’s blink-and-you-miss-it stumping of Shubman Gill to the cracking start provided by Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway and the cameos by Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja.

Jadeja’s final-over heroics, though, would have been a lot more difficult had it not been for Rayudu’s three-ball blitz against Mohit Sharma, where he went six, four, six in three deliveries during the 13th over — a crucial phase in the truncated 15-over chase during which a series of dots of a few hits to or over the fence could have defined the game.

It also helped that all-rounder Shivam Dube had smashed Rashid Khan for back-to-back sixes in the last two balls of the previous overs, as a result of which the fourth-wicket pair ended up bring the equation down from 50 off 20 to a very gettable 22 off 15.

The difference however, was that Dube had been at the crease a lot longer that Rayudu had, having come out to bat at 3. He had a fair idea of how the wicket was behaving and had his eye set in by then. Rayudu, in one final display of his ability to blast off right away, turned the game on its head.

Read | ‘Thought he will do something special tonight’ — Dhoni on Rayudu

What would’ve been the cherry on top of the cake for the outgoing star would’ve been to guide the team home in style. That part of the story, however, was written for someone else.

What mattered to Rayudu in the end was the fact that he was going out with gold in his hand, and that he was no passenger in that effort. He finished his career as a six-time IPL winner after all — three each with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings — going level with Rohit Sharma, his former skipper at MI, in the process. And he would be bowing out as a player in triumphant fashion, something that is reserved for a select few in sport.

In a way, his knock in the early hours of Monday perfectly encapsulated what Rayudu the IPL player was all about — an individual whose records weren’t exactly extraordinary, but whose consistency season after season along with his fiery attitude on the field (off it, he is said to be an absolute gentleman), set him apart as one of the more reliable middle-order options in the league for more than a decade.

The Hyderabad batter, who made national headlines with a blistering 177 against England U-19 in 2002, was picked up by Mumbai Indians ahead of the 2010 season and made an instant impact with a 33-ball 55 in a four-run win against Rajasthan Royals. The following season, he would repay MI’s faith for retaining him in the mega-auction by going a notch higher, collecting 395 runs with four half-centuries.

Two seasons later, he would get the first of his six IPL medals, playing an important role in Mumbai’s victory over Chennai in the final by forging a crucial 48-run partnership with Kieron Pollard and rescuing the team from a top-order wobble. He would remain part of the side till 2017, at which point MI was starting to phase him out of the middle-order and preferred pairing Pollard with the Pandya brothers — Hardik and Krunal — instead. By then, Rayudu already was part of three title-winning sides. Many a champion players are yet to hold the trophy in their hands even once.

Rayudu, however, was far from done in the IPL. Just when his fortunes in the league were starting to dip and he ended up getting released by the Nita Ambani-owned Mumbai, CSK picked up him for a sum of Rs 2.2 crore ahead of the 2018 season.

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The season would witness the Super Kings make the comeback of a lifetime under Dhoni’s leadership after spending two years in exile and Rayudu would be at the forefront of that triumphant return — finishing the fourth-highest run-scorer that season and the top-run scorer for his team with 602 runs — the only time he ever went past the 400-mark in the league — that included three half-centuries and a 62-ball hundred against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

That would mark the beginning of a second glorious chapter of his IPL career in which he would become a regular starter in another powerhouse side, a chapter that he would end on a triumphant note on Tuesday.

“Yes, it’s a fairy-tale finish. I couldn’t have asked for more. I mean it’s unbelievable. Fortunate to have played in really great sides and this is one of the sides. I can smile for the rest of my life. All the hard work for the last 30 years. I’m just happy that it finished on this night. I would like really like to take this movement to really thank my family. My father specially,” an emotional Rayudu said during a post-match chat.

Read | Clinical Chennai Super Kings back old stars and new for fifth title

His teammate Deepak Chahar did butt in, adding an interesting little nugget about Rayudu’s determination this season.

“Rayudu was sure of our win from Day 1 of the tournament. Whenever we spoke, his topic was about our victory in the 16th season,” he said.

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