Mumbai: Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad praised Ambati Rayudu’s sarcastic ‘3D Tweet’ after he was ignored for the World Cup squad. Months before the World Cup, Rayudu was considered a solution to India’s No. 4 woes but in the end the spot was handed to Vijay Shankar who batted just a couple of times at that position in the World Cup.
Rayudu had taken a dig at the selectors when the team for the World Cup was announced. “Just ordered a new set of 3D glasses to watch the world cup,” Rayudu had tweeted. Prasad had said that Shankar was a “three dimensional” player.
Prasad on Sunday chose to take it in a lighter vain. “It was a lovely tweet. Very timely one. I really enjoyed the tweet. It was fantastic. I don’t know how it struck him,” Prasad quipped.
Prasad also ruled out any bias in team selection. “With regards to the decision taken, it has been completely devoid of any bias or any favouritism into why we have picked Shankar, Pant or Mayank Agarwal also,” Prasad said.
Prasad recalled that selection panel had supported Rayudu when he failed the fitness test. “There was a lot of criticism wh-en we picked him on the basis of 17-18 T20s (2018 IPL) but we had some thoughts about him subsequently. When he failed the fitness (yo yo) test (before England away ODIs), this selection committee backed him and we put him through a fitness programme for a month, ensured that he gets fit and comes into the side. Once he came into the side, we backed him but due to certain permutations and combinations in the side, we couldn’t pick him,” the former stumper said in his defense.
On injury replacements, Prasad said: “the team management requested for a left-hander and we had no other choice than Pant (after opener Dhawan got injured).
“When Agarwal came in, it was more about having a cover for KL Rahul, who had suffered an on-field injury during the England game in Birmingham,” he added while revealing that team management which had asked for an opener to replace Shankar (a middle-order batsman).
