Shunned by Delhi, Ayush shows he is here to stay

NEW DELHI: From slog-sweeping Rashid Khan and pulling Lockie Ferguson for sixes during a knock of 54 on IPL debut to finishing a run chase with a maximum in his fourth game, Ayush Badoni hasn’t for once seemed out of place in the turquoise blue of Lucknow Super Giants. On Thursday, he came out to bat in the final over and smashed an unbeaten 10 off just 3 balls to seal a six-wicket win against Delhi Capitals.

Entering the fray with five needed off five balls, he left alone a slower bouncer from Shardul Thakur first up before hitting a low full toss through the gap between extra cover and mid-off. Just a single was needed now with three balls remaining, but Badoni doesn’t believe in halfmeasures. He dispatched a length ball beyond the long-off boundary with an air of insouciance befitting more experienced finishers, not a 22-year-old with a cumulative domestic experience of just five games for Delhi (all T20s) playing just his fourth IPL match.

Even in those five games for Delhi, he batted just once and made 8 before being shunned. While Badoni’s facial expressions didn’t give away much on Thursday, the fist pump after each of his hits to the boundary told its own story. “He had been attending trials for different IPL teams for three years. Before this season too, he attended two trials with Delhi Capitals and made 70 and 75 in quick time. He has been consistently making 50 off 15 or 16 balls in these trials,” said Devendra Sharma, who is one of Badoni’s coaches at the late Tarak Sinha’s Sonnet Club.

Badoni made an unbeaten 185 for India U-19s in a youth Test against Sri Lanka in 2018 and also scored a 28-ball 52* in the final of the U-19 Asia Cup that year. That was when the attention of India coach Rahul Dravid, who was in charge of the U-19 team at the time, was drawn towards him. “When Dravid became India coach, he enquired with people in Delhi about what Ayush is doing and why he is not playing. I got to know and told Ayush about it to motivate him about working even harder,” said Sharma, a former Delhi wicketkeeper.

Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) secretary Siddharth Sahib Singh conceded that Badoni should have got more opportunities. “He did play U-25 matches for Delhi this season. He performed and went on to play for India U-19s. He is a good prospect and the whole world knows now. If you ask me the reasons (why he hasn’t played much), it depends on the selectors. And it is totally their call. For sure, it will be difficult to ignore him from now on,” Singh said.

According to a DDCA official, there was nothing sinister about Badoni’s exclusion from the team. “He played five T20 games last year. Other (established) batters were making runs. So he did not get much of a chance. He was also in the T20 squad this year. He wouldn’t have been picked in the T20 squad at all if it was about politics,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Gambhir’s backing

But the truckload of runs Badoni was scoring in the DDCA league wasn’t going entirely unnoticed. Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Vijay Dahiya belong to Delhi and perhaps knew that a wrong was being committed.“Whatever tournaments he was playing in Delhi, he was dominating. Just like Rishabh, Badoni has been a match-winner right from the start,” said Sharma. “We are very thankful to Gautam and Vijay that they have given him a chance. I would say the biggest role was Gautam’s in Badoni getting picked since he is the decisionmaker at Lucknow. He has told Ayush to play his natural game and that he will get a proper run in the team.”

In the past, Gambhir has fought against senior DDCA officials to make a case for pacer Navdeep Saini, who was being kept out on the basis that he was an outsider, from Karnal in Haryana. Saini has gone on to not just play for Delhi but also represent India across all three formats. Sharma hopes Badoni can do the same one day. “I hope he continues to play well in this IPL. I hope Delhi start playing him. I want to see him progress and play for the country.”

BCCI Ayush Badoni.