Ambati Rayudu announces all-format retirement U-turn with IPL comeback

The 33-year-old had announced his retirement from cricket last month after being overlooked for India's World Cup squad

Ambati Rayudu has announced he has made a U-turn on his all-format retirement from cricket and will feature in next year's Indian Premier League.

The 33-year-old had announced his retirement from the game last month after he was overlooked for India's World Cup squad.

However, Rayudu has seemingly had a change of heart and stated he is now preparing for next season's franchise competition in India.

"I would definitely be playing the IPL for Chennai Super Kings and make a comeback into white ball cricket. My priority now is to get back into peak fitness," Rayudu said.

Rayudu was one of the five players on India's World Cup standby list, but was twice ignored by the selectors as they chose Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal ahead of him to replace the injured Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar respectively.

^{Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement last month}

"I wouldn't say it was an emotional decision because I worked very hard for the World Cup in the last four years. You are bound to be disappointed and I felt it was time (to retire).

"The decision that I took was not because of rejection or anything else. You work towards something and when you don't get it, you feel it's time to move on.

"I had some time to think over it and then decided I might as well come and play some cricket."

Asked if he still harboured hopes of playing for India in T20s despite his retirement, Rayudu said: "I haven't thought that far yet.

"I need to take it step-by-step and see how things pan out in the coming months."

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