Credit: Twitter
Ambati Rayudu, the veteran Indian batter who recently retired from the Indian Premier League (IPL) after winning his sixth title with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was supposed to take part in the inaugural season of the Major League Cricket (MLC) for Texas Super Kings but pulled out just five days before the start of the tournament.
According to the statement from TSK, Rayudu withdrew from the Major League Cricket 2023 in the USA due to ‘personal reasons’. Although neither Rayudu nor TSK explained the exact reason behind his decision, it is speculated that it was influenced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) proposal to introduce a "cooling-off" period for retired players who want to join foreign leagues.
"Ambati Rayudu will not be available to participate in the first season of the MLC with Texas Super Kings due to personal reasons," TSK said in a statement on Twitter. "He will continue to cheer for the team from India," the franchise added.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the BCCI was planning to prevent "pre-determined" retirements of cricketers who announce their exit from international or IPL cricket and then join a private league soon after. "We’ll come out with a policy to prevent the trend of pre-determined retirement. The office bearers will make a policy and send it back for approval," BCCI secretary Jay Shah said after an Apex Council meeting in Mumbai.
The report suggested that this policy could be a cooling-off period of one year or more, where the players can't join a foreign league after retiring, including IPL retirements. Rayudu, who played 203 IPL matches and scored 4348 runs, announced his retirement from IPL cricket on May 30, just a day after CSK beat Gujarat Titans in a rain-curtailed final.
TSK have replaced Rayudu with former South Africa spinner Imran Tahir, who also played for CSK in the IPL. Tahir will join the likes of David Miller, Mitchell Santner, Devon Conway, Dwayne Bravo, and Gerald Coetzee in the TSK squad for MLC 2023.
