Ommission from World Cup squad is unfortunate for Rayudu: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian cricketer on Monday said that Ambati Rayudu's omission from the World Cup squad is very unfortunate for the player as he has been in a good form in ODIs for the past one year.

"It's unfortunate on Rayudu because I feel he was so close of being part of the World Cup team as he was averaging 48 in white-ball game. And at the age, he is at, it is very disheartening because I have gone through the same in my career. I feel sorry for him," Gambhir told ANI.

Rishabh Pant was also omitted from the World Cup squad but Gambhir believes the omission of Rayudu is more disheartening than Pant as the latter has his age to his advantage.

"I think I feel sorrier for Ambati Rayudu than any other player. Rishabh Pant is still playing formats, It's not about Pant, it's about fifteen people who have been selected for The World Cup. Ambati Rayudu would be far more disheartened as Pant has his age to his advantage, but Rayudu is unfortunate," Gambhir said.

There are speculations doing the rounds that the upcoming World Cup may see MS Dhoni play his last ICC event, however, Gambhir believes that the decision of retirement depends totally on Dhoni.

"I do not know, it's totally up to Dhoni to decide whether this will be his last World Cup or not," Gambhir said.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named the fifteen-member Indian squad for the upcoming World Cup on Monday.

Indian fifteen-member squad for World Cup: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Kartik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bumrah , Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami.

India takes on New Zealand (May 25) and Bangladesh (May 28) in the warm-up matches before the World Cup.

The 50-over tournament will take place in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14. India will open their World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5.