Ambati Rayudu one of the most underrated crickets India has ever producedRobin Uthappa on retiring CSK star

By India Today Sports DeskFormer India batter Robin Uthappa heaped praise on Ambati Rayudu, who announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League on Sunday, May 28. Uthappa said the Chennai Super Kings star is one of the most underrated players to have come out of India and that he should have played Test cricket for the senior national team.

Ambati Rayudu took to social media hours before the IPL 2023 final between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans to announce his retirement from the IPL. The final was moved to Reserve Day following heavy rain in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Notably, he had returned from retirement after having announced it during IPL 2022 but the veteran batter said on Sunday that there would be no U-turn, this time around.

IPL 2023 FinalWeather Forecast for Reserve Day

Robin Uthappa, who shared the dressing room with Ambati Rayudu for Chennai Super Kings, highlighted how much of a team man Rayudu was, saying that every team would have loved to have the Hyderabad cricketer.

Rayudu, 37, played 55 ODIs and hit 3 hundreds, and played 6 T20Is, for India while he played 203 Indian Premier League matches. Rayudu has scored 4329 runs, including a hundred in the IPL, having played only for two franchises – 5-time champions Mumbai Indians and 4-time champions Chennai Super Kings.

“He has been there, done that, and seen it all. He is one of the most underrated cricketers, India has ever produced. He should have played Test Cricket, I can’t believe he did not play the game. He is an astute student of the game, someone who knows the game inside out. Absolute team man will do anything for the team. Every team would have loved to have him. I have loved him from the age of my junior days,” Uthappa told Jio Cinema.

“He dominated cricket through junior cricket. His retirement is kind of somber and heartfelt for me,” he added.

Uthappa highlighted how Rayudu moved to the middle-order for Chennai Super Kings even after scoring 602 runs in IPL 2018 as their opener. Rayudu, who joined CSK in 2018, played a key role in their title triumph that year and moved to the middle-order to do the pinch-hitters job.

in IPL 2023, Rayudu was used as an Impact Player, more often than not.

“He did the grunt work for CSK. He opened in 2018, scored 600 runs and CSK won the title. They sent him in the middle to do grunt work after that. And he has done it without any complaint. People have trolled him for his performances and all that, but he has taken it on his chin. And the support staff have rallied around him. He deserves all the accolades,” he added.

Rayudu will be hoping to end his IPL career on a high when Chennai Super Kings take on Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 final Reserve Day on May 29.