IPL 2023: Ambati Rayudu announces retirement, CSK vs GT final to be his last

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Ambati Rayudu took to Twitter to announce his retirement from all forms of cricket on Sunday while confirming that the Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans (CSK vs GT) final match of the IPL 2023 is his last. The 37-year-old batter retired from international cricket last year.

"2 great teams mi nd csk,204 matches,14 seasons,11 playoffs,8 finals,5 trophies.hopefully 6th tonight. It's been quite a journey.I have decided that tonight's final is going to be my last game in the Ipl.i truly hav enjoyed playing this great tournament.Thank u all. No u turn," Ambati Rayudu wrote on Twitter.

Ambati Rayudu, who played 61 international matches for India after being regarded as one of the talents to watch out for in his heydays, played 203 IPL matches after making his debut in 2019 for Mumbai Indians. He remained an integral member of the side for eight seasons, winning three titles.

In 2018, Chennai Super Kings bought the batter for Rs 2.2 crore and Ambati Rayudu repaid the faith in him by scoring 602 runs in the subsequent season. It was also his best-ever IPL season with the bat as CSK went on to lift the title.

2019 onwards, Ambati Rayudu's career went downhill as he managed to go past 350 runs just once (2020) and fell out of favour with the Indian team as well after being ignored for the 2019 World Cup selection as selectors preferred Vijay Shankar.

In the ongoing 2023 season, Rayudu had been the weakest link in CSK batting line-up with just 139 runs in 15 games. This has been his second lowest tally of runs in the tournament since 2017, when he scored just 91 runs in five matches.

Skipper MS Dhoni, however, has backed his old guard for the entire tournament, using the batter often as an impact substitute in the middle-order and is likely to retain him in the line-up for the final as well.