By S S Ramaswamy
Ahmedabad, Nov 7 (PTI) After guiding India to a comprehensive six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second One-Day International here, man-of-the-match Ambati Rayudu said he was happy to fulfill the role given to him by the team management.
“When we play for India, whatever role the team gives us, I am happy to fulfill them. I am happy to fulfill the role given to me. It’s all about roles of each individual, more than landmarks like 50s and 100s,” said Rayudu, who struck his maiden century, a brilliant unbeaten 121, in his 21st ODI last evening at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera last evening.
Rayudu was promoted to No. 3 position in the batting order from his usual slot of 5 or 6 and he grabbed the chance with both hands after the early fall of opener Ajinkya Rahane to steer India through.
He said everyone in the team is prepared to go and bat at any position.
“Everyone is prepared to go in at any order. I got the opportunity today and I am happy. We all were ready,” Rayudu said when asked at what time he was told about his promotion in the batting order.
The 29-year-old Guntur-born player, whose career has seen many ups and downs, also got involved in two century partnerships -? 122 runs in 121 balls with Shikhar Dhawan (79) and 116 in 98 balls with captain Virat Kohli (49) -? to seal the comfortable six-wicket win and power India to a 2-0 lead in the five-game series.
“I am definitely happy that I got a hundred, but for me personally this figure does not matter as much as the team winning and I am happy to see it through,” said Rayudu whose previous highest score was 64 not out scored in Nottingham against England in August this year.
Rayudu and Dhawan, who came into this game after scoring a hundred in the series opener at Cuttack, paced their innings to perfection to enable India chased down the target of 274 set by Sri Lanka well inside the 50 overs.
