Ambati Rayudu joins St Kitts & Nevis Patriots pending BCCI clearance

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have snapped up Ambati Rayudu as their marquee player for CPL 2023, but he would need the BCCI clearance to participate in the league. Given the fact that Rayudu had represented Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023, he is yet to complete one year of retirement, which has cast shadows on his participation.

Rayudu had earlier signed up for Indian Cements’ MLC franchise - Texas Super Kings - but later removed himself from the league after BCCI's proposal to introduce a one-year cooling-off period for retired Indian players before they can participate in overseas franchise leagues.

Pending clearance, Rayudu will become the second Indian player after Pravin Tambe to participate in the Men’s CPL. Tambe played for Trinbago Knight Riders in 2020. Even though Sunny Sohal and Smit Patel had also turned up in the CPL, they were playing for USA then, hence qualified as USA players.

"I'm really excited to be joining the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. I look forward to having a positive contribution for the team in the upcoming CPL 2023," Rayudu said.

Patriots owner Mahesh Ramani said in a statement, "I am sure Ambati's seasoned expertise of having won multiple championships with various teams in an illustrious career in India will undoubtedly enrich the experience of our young players as we chase our second CPL title in 2023."

Now Rayudu will be joining hands with former Tamil Nadu all-rounder Malolan Rangarajan, who has replaced Simon Helmot as Patriots' head coach. With Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Evin Lewis, and George Linde in the side, St Kitts have a solid squad at their disposal and Rayudu, with experience of over 100 games, will look to add more value to the set-up.