Fact-Check: Did Ambati Rayudu Actually Take A Sarcastic Dig As Kohli-Shastri?

Chennai Super Kings batsman Ambati Rayudu created quite a chaos on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, announcing, via a tweet, that he will retire from the IPL at the conclusion of the ongoing season and thanked CSK and Mumbai Indians, the two franchises he’s played for his entire career.

“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 tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

However, just as the wishes had started to pour from all corners, Rayudu deleted the tweet minutes after posting it.

Not long after the tweet was deleted, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan talked openly about it to various websites, confirming that Rayudu isn’t retiring at the moment and that it’s only his below-par performances this season which may have influenced him to think of hanging his boots.

“I spoke to him and he is not retiring. He was disappointed with his performance and that’s why he might have put out that tweet. But he has deleted it and he is definitely not retiring…,” Viswanathan told Sportstar.

In 187 IPL games, Rayudu has scored 4187 runs with 22 fifties and one century. This season, however, hasn’t been a great one for him – 271 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 124 with a solitary fifty to his name.

Further, after Rayudu deleted his original retirement tweet, another tweet was going viral on social media – and this one got everyone hooked even more, eliciting out various reactions.

In this new tweet, that had the name of Ambati Rayudu, it said that some people had tried hurt his career and bring him down, but he rose back up again and then thanked former India captain and coach pair of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri.

Fans were quick to recall and point out that Rayudu was dropped from the 2019 World Cup squad by Kohli-Shastri and the selection panel headed by MSK Prasad, after failure in just one series while being a key part of the team. Netizens felt that Rayudu took a sarcastic dig at Kohli-Shastri by thanking them.

This new tweet read: “Before retiring , I would like to say , some people tried their best to bring me down but couldn’t succeed. Thankyou @imVkohli @RaviShastriOfc.”

Fact check: did Ambati Rayudu actually take a sarcastic dig as Kohli-Shastri

Well, the truth is this tweet was posted by a user pretending to be Ambati Rayudu. This fake user had Twitter handle “@RayuduAmbaIi” while Rayudu, the CSK batsman’s Twitter handle is “@RayuduAmbati”

Here, check out this fake tweet taking a dig at Kohli-Shastri:

Before retiring , I would like to say , some people tried their best to bring me down but couldn’t succeed. Thankyou @imVkohli @RaviShastriOfc .

— Ambati Rayudu (@RayuduAmbaIi) May 14, 2022

This fake user used the same profile picture as Rayudu has and a very similar Twitter handle got many fans fooled that the tweet was from Rayudu himself. In fact, Rayudu hasn’t tweeted anything yet after deleting his retirement tweet.

Also Read: Ambati Rayudu Has Announced His Retirement From The IPL