India would have won 2019 World Cup had Ambati Rayudu been included in squad, says Suresh Raina

There had been a lot of discussion around India’s No.4 spot before the team left for the 2019 World Cup in England. The spot was up for grabs for a fairly long period before the World Cup, and many people were tried out for the key position.

For some time before the tournament, Ambati Rayudu was deemed to be Virat Kohli-led India’s No. 4 batsman ahead of their World Cup campaign. But then very suddenly he was controversially dropped from the squad.

Former India batsman Suresh Raina, who recently retired from international cricket along with the former skipper MS Dhoni on August 15, has now stated that if Ambati Rayudu was in the squad for the World Cup campaign, India would have won the title.

‘Rayudu was working very hard’

“I wanted Rayudu to be India’s number four because he was working very hard, playing [for] almost one and half years. He performed really well and he wasn’t there. I didn’t enjoy the tour in 2018 because of the circumstances where Rayudu failed his fitness test. It didn’t feel good that I was picked as he failed,” Raina was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

The swashbuckling left-hander further stated, “He was good at number four. If he was part of the squad for the World Cup, we would have won the tournament. Rayudu was the best choice and as it’s the way he plays the game in the CSK. And he was batting really well in the camp in Chennai,” he added.

India went into the World Cup without a specialist for the No.4 spot. While India started its campaign with Vijay Shankar and KL Rahul in the middle-order, Shikhar Dhawan’s injury prompted KL Rahul to be moved to the opener’s position.

The team management included the likes of Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal before the Men in Blue were shown the door in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina will be seen playing for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020 in the UAE next month.