Ambati Rayudu was touted as India's next great batting hope ever since he started training at the National Cricket Academy in 2001. A pint-sized, fluent strokemaker with a compact technique, he blazed an unbeaten 177 - after opening the batting - as India's colts completed a clean sweep of a one-day series in England in 2002. The Ranji Trophy season that followed, his first, was also exceptional - including a double-century and a hundred in the same match against Andhra - though he tailed off towards the end of an arduous campaign.

He was captain of India's Under-19 team and led the side to the semis of the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2004. However, his batting since then hasn't matched initial expectations; he has failed to earn a call-up for the national team and has been overtaken by several of his U-19 team-mates, including Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik. But Rayudu had more than his fair share of problems off the field. After a disappointing 2004-05 season with the bat, he had issues with the then Hyderabad coach and transferred to Andhra the following season. He returned to Hyderabad the next season but started having trouble with the umpires on a few occasions. His consistency suffered, and when the Indian Cricket League came calling in 2007, he signed up along with a host of fellow Hyderabad team-mates. The opportunity to play alongside foreign stars in front of a television audience, he said, attracted him.

The ICL put a hold on his international prospects for two seasons before accepting the BCCI's amnesty offer in 2009 and cancelling his contract. IPL franchise Mumbai Indians signed him and Rayudu impressed, scoring 356 runs including two half-centuries in the 2010 IPL. Mumbai re-signed him for the 2011 tournament and he did even better, scoring 395 runs to be the team's second-leading scorer behind Sachin Tendulkar. So impressive was Rayudu that India offspinner and Mumbai team-mate Harbhajan Singh was moved to call him "a special talent" and said he could see Rayudu playing for India.
Dileep Premachandran and ESPNcricinfo Staff