Ex-India cricketer Ambati Rayudu set to join politics, touring A.P. to understand local issues

Guntur, June 29:  Ambati Rayudu, who quit all forms of cricket at the end of the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), is all set to join politics in Andhra Pradesh and is likely to take up membership of the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

The 37-year-old cricketer, who played his last cricket match in the IPL final for eventual winner Chennai Super King on May 29, made his intentions clear during a tour of his native Guntur district.

Rayudu, who has represented both Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad, now part of Telangana after the bifurcation of the state, in domestic cricket has been touring Guntur district for the last few days "to understand the issues confronting the people at the grassroots level," reports in the local media said.

"I shall soon enter politics in Andhra Pradesh to serve the people. Before that, I have decided to visit different parts of the district to know the people's pulse and understand their problems," Rayudu told the media at a village near here on Wednesday.

According to the reports, the former India batter is touring the rural areas of Guntur to know the needs of the people and what he could do to fulfil them.

"I shall come out with a concrete action plan on how to go about in politics and which platform I would choose," he was quoted as saying in the reports.

The cricketer denied speculations that he was contemplating contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from either Guntur or Machilipatnam parliamentary constituency, the reports said.

The reports also said that Rayudu has recently visited the Mulankareshwari temple at Aminabad village and offered special prayers. He also offered prayers at Sai Baba Temple and Bala Yesu Church in Phirangipuram.

Rayudu has played 55 ODIs and 6 T20Is for India, scoring 1,694 runs at an average of 47.06 in ODIs and has a top score of 124 not out. In T20Is, he has scored 42 runs in six matches.