Ambati Rayudu backtracks after announcing "IPL retirement"
Mumbai, May 14: The unrest in Chennai Super Kings camp once again came to the forefront after senior batter Ambati Rayudu announced his "IPL retirement" on social media, only to backtrack within an hour after being talked out of it by the team management.
CSK are already out of play-off race with couple of matches left but already former skipper Ravindra Jadeja has gone home with a "bruised rib" but not before adding fuel to the speculations that he has had a fall-out with management after being told relinquish captaincy.
On Saturday morning, the 36-year-old former India white-ball player took to twitter to announce his decision.
"I am happy to announce that this will be my last ipl. I have had a wonderful time playing it and being a part of 2 great teams for 13 years. Would love to sincerely thank Mumbai Indians and Csk for the wonderful journey," Rayudu had tweeted.
But within an hour, the post was deleted as CSK owners and team management were completely caught unawares about Rayudu's decision which also raised questions about the communication channel in one of the most successful teams in IPL history.
"I can confirm that Ambati Rayudu is not retiring from IPL. Yes, he did tweet about it. May be it was in an emotional state he tweeted. He has been spoken to and subsequently deleted the tweet," CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told PTI.
It is not the first time Rayudu made U-turn from retirement decision. He made news following his "3 dimensional" tweet aimed at India selector MSK Prasad in the backdrop of his exclusion from World Cup 2019 squad.
Subsequently, Rayudu retired from international cricket in July the same year only to overturn his decision.
During his over-decade IPL career, Rayudu, an IPL legend, represented two franchises. He was first picked up by Mumbai Indians in 2010 after being granted amensty by BCCI to return to the main fold following his stint in the de-recognised Indian Cricket League in 2007 and stayed there till 2017.
Rayudu is one of the most successful players in the IPL as he has been part of the title-winning sides on five occasions (2013, 2015, 2017 with Mumbai Indians and 2018, 2021 with Chennai Super Kings).
In his entire IPL career, Rayudu, 36, accounted for 4,187 runs at an average of 29.28, scoring one century and 22 fifties.
The Hyderabad middle-order batter also is the 10th Indian to reach the milestone of 4,000 runs in IPL.
In the ongoing IPL season, Rayudu has scored 271 runs at a strike-rate of 124 but has often been seen struggling for fitness on the ground.
In the last IPL in the UAE, Rayudu scored 257 runs from 13 innings with a tournament-best of 72 not out. He was retained by CSK but later the four-time champions successfully picked his up for Rs 6.75 crore.
Rayudu played 55 ODIs and six T20Is for India, accumulating 1694 and 42 runs respectively. His best score in the ODIs is 124 not out against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club in 2015.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
