After much hope, Ambati Rayudu will watch World Cup from home

Ambati Rayudu

It's official now that Team India will go into the World Cup with confusion over their No. 4 batsman. There was no clear contender that the selectors could come up with for the hotly-debated position. MSK Prasad & Co on Monday decided not to include Ambati Rayudu, who was originally chosen as the No. 4 batsman after trying out as many as 11 players in that position since the 2017 Champions Trophy.

Prasad said they were looking at Vijay Shankar as the No. 4, but he also kept options open over KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav to claim a stake in that position. "After the Champions Trophy, we tried quite a few batsmen in the middle order. We also tried Karthik at the top of the order…. Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey too. We did give a few more chances to Rayudu, but what Vijay Shankar offers is three dimensions.

Also read: India's World Cup 2019 squad announced: Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar in, Pant, Rayadu miss out

Apart from his batting, he can bowl if the conditions are overcast, and he's a fantastic fielder. That's what went in his favour. He [Shankar] is a batsman, who can bowl. We are looking at him at No 4. With Karthik in, and also with Kedar, we have plenty of options at No 4," said Prasad, keeping the field wide open for experiments at the World Cup. As far as Rahul is concerned, Prasad said: "We also have a role for KL somewhere in the top order. To begin with, he is only a reserve opener but if a need arises, it will be the team management's call."

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