Ambati Rayudu's smile showed just how much the century meant to him

The smile, when it came, was that of a 12-year-old who had woken up on Christmas morning to find Santa had brought him everything he wanted. It was wide and full and bright enough to light up a hundred homes. The rest of the celebration was restrained by modern standards. The helmet came off, the arms were raised but there was no fist pumping, no leap of joy, and no high five. It was the smile that told you how much it meant. At 29 years and 44 days, Ambati Rayudu became the fourth-oldest Indian cricketer to make his first one-day century. But barring Sunil Gavaskar’s first and only ODI ton in the 1987 World Cup at the age of 38, possibly none have felt sweeter. [caption id=“attachment_1791853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ambati Rayudu celebrates his century. HISL[/caption] When Rayudu clipped Thisara Perera to square leg for a simple single, it produced a moment he must have feared would never come when he was banned by the BCCI for playing in the Indian Cricket League. It has been a long and winding road to get here for the one time teenage prodigy. Rayudu was marked as one to watch when he first played for India A as a raw 18-year-old. He was India’s captain at the Under-19 World Cup in 2004 and took his team to the semi-finals but then came nine years in the wilderness as poor form and a worse attitude dogged him. While his teammates Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik were earning their India caps, Rayudu was feuding with Hyderabad’s Ranji coach and moved to Andhra in 2005. The change of scenery did not improve his attitude and a year later he was back at Hyderabad only to find himself without a domestic team in 2007. Then the ICL came calling. Accepting the BCCI’s amnesty in 2009 was the first step in his rehabilitation. A more mature outlook and making runs for Mumbai Indians in the IPL did the rest. Rayudu was still just 24 when Robin Singh and Sachin Tendulkar convinced MI’s management that he was worth a contract. He has arguably been their most consistent player since making his IPL debut in 2010. Rayudu eventually earned his India cap against Zimbabwe in July, 2013 but has mostly been on the fringes of the playing XI. When he did played, he batted in the lower middle-order, leaving few opportunities to make big scores to press his claim for a more permanent position. At Motera, Virat Kohli decided to promote Rayudu to No. 3 after the early loss of Ajinkya Rahane. Chasing an underwhelming 275 to win at Motera against an ordinary bowling attack, Rayudu was able to pace his innings perfectly, taking his time to play himself in before pressing his foot on the accelerator once he was set. He used his feet intelligently to the spinners and drove Sri Lanka’s medium-pacers with ease. Rayudu finished with an unbeaten 121 from 118 balls and arguably his finest moment on a cricket field so far. “It’s a special feeling as it’s been a long wait,” Rayudu said at the post-match presentation ceremony. He also made sure to thank his teammates and the coaching staff for believing in him. “I think, more than anything, the confidence given to me by the coach, Virat and Dhoni bhai,” Rayudu said after the game. “All the members of the team management telling me, hang in there. I was not actually looking to get a hundred as such, just trying to stay unbeaten and see the team through and in the process I got to the hundred,” In the process, he may just have cemented his place in the team for the tour of Australia and possibly the 2015 World Cup. Now that’s something worth smiling about too.