• Source:JND
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Robin Uthappa, a veteran Indian batter and member of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team under MS Dhoni's captaincy, has made a startling revelation, pointing an accusing finger at India batting stalwart Virat Kohli for playing an instrumental role in Ambati Rayudu's surprising omission from India's squad for the 2019 ODI World Cup.

Excluding Rayudu from the 2019 ODI World Cup team was really shocking considering him being a regular member of the Indian team in the series leading up to the World Cup.

Nevertheless, the shock came with the fact that Rayudu was not even being called into World Cup games when Shikhar Dhawan sustained an injury during the second game against Australia and was ruled out of the tournament.

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Uthappa emphasized that Kohli was really upfront regarding his expectations in terms of the squad's features whenever prospective players were involved. Uthappa alleged that if Kohli didn't take a liking to a particular player, that individual would be dropped from the team and claimed that this was exactly what happened to Rayudu.

“If he (Virat Kohli) didn’t like anyone, he didn’t feel someone was good, then they were cut. (Ambati) Rayudu is the prime example. You feel bad. Everybody has preferences, I agree, but you cannot close the door on a player after taking him to the cusp. He had World Cup clothes and a World Cup kit bag; everything was there at his home. A player would be thinking that he is going to the World Cup. But you shut the door on him. That wasn’t fair according to me," Uthappa said while speaking on Lallantop.

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Rayudu later criticised MSK Prasad on Twitter through a blistering "3D" tweet for not properly recognizing his worth during team selection for the World Cup.

Prasad retorted that selection was the prerogative of a bunch of team selectors. He also added that the captain's views were important to the committee dealing with team selection, indicating that everybody was in unison in choosing to omit Rayudu.