The Icelandic Cricket Association raised attention online yesterday when it invited Indian cricket start Ambati Rayudu to Iceland to play for the Icelandic team. Rayudu was snubbed for a call up to the Indian cricket team for the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup in England.
The offer was made tongue-in-cheek by the Icelandic Cricket Association via Twitter, where the team has raised attention online recently. Rayudu had officially retired from cricket this Wednesday, so who knows if he will pick up the bat once again to play for Iceland. The Indian star was both snubbed for the original 15 man squad as well as two other players being selected ahead of him as injury replacements.
The Icelandic Cricket Association thus offered Rayudu to apply for permanent residency in the country in order to play for the national team. The matter has received due attention in India, where news outlets such as India Today, Indian Times, Indian Express, and CNN-News 18 have covered it.
“The offer was mostly made as a joke,” said Jakob Wayne Robertson, the spokesperson and ex-president of the Icelandic Cricket Association. “Of course we’d happily accept Rayudu, but we wouldn’t be able to pay him any wages. He’s a professional.”
Cricket up North
The Icelandic Cricket Association was formed in 2000, with the first official match of the national team taking place the same year. There are no cricket-specific stadia or training grounds in the country for the 35 players who play the sport. The association even claims that the sport was founded by Icelandic Vikings in the year 911. The team’s history online certainly proves a good read: https://www.krikket.is/history.
The team is not part of the official International Cricket Council but plays friendly matches against other nations both home and abroad. The team’s vice-captain is Delhi born Abhishek Raj Chauhan, who holds Icelandic citizenship and works as a bartender.
The association has been flooded with messages asking to join the team since the tweet went out, leading the Icelandic Cricket Association to ask people to stop sending them e-mails.
Follow the Icelandic Cricket Association on Twitter: https://twitter.com/icelandcricket
