Cricket
Focusing on my Bowling, Want to Contribute as a Bowler Too: Ayush Badoni
Lucknow Super Giants batsman Ayush Badoni wants to make a greater contribution with the ball. He believes that the IPL has enhanced his cricketing skills.
“Where Talent Meets Opportunity” the motto of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is engraved in the IPL trophy in Sanskrit language. True to the slogan, IPL has unearthed many such talents to enrich the cricket fraternity, especially in India. Ayush Badoni is one such talent who is gearing up to play his 3rd IPL season.
Picked by IPL team Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 2022 IPL Auction for 20 Lakhs, Badoni made an impressive debut by scoring a fifty. Batting at number 6, his innings was not just slam bam cricket but a well-paced display of maturity, taking calculated risks to steer his team from a tough position of 29-4 to a solid total of 158 in 20 overs.
Speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.com, Badoni lays out his plans for the upcoming IPL and explains how his role is well-defined in the team.
"From the start of the season my captain at LSG, KL Rahul has always told me that you don't play the situation, you play your game and back your game. Senior players will see the situation. That boosted my confidence."
Ayush Badoni on capatin KL Rahul's backing.
Badoni's first IPL fifty exemplified the approach to play with freedom and no pressure. It marked LSG's debut match in the IPL as a franchise. Facing a top-order collapse, the team seemed destined for a disappointing match. Before this, Ayush Badoni had batted only once in a T20 innings, scoring just 8 runs in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Delhi.
Image courtesy: X (IPL)
Coming in at a delicate situation, battling the nerves in his debut IPL match, Badoni showed nerves of steel and scored a 41 ball 54. He stitched together two crucial partnerships with Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya to take his team to a respectable total.
Badoni declared his arrival on the biggest stage that night prompting cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle to ask him - Where have you been hiding? - in the mid-innings interview.
Unlike Mumbai where the domestic cricket structure and system support budding talents to find their way up, Delhi's system is marred with association feuds and nepotism. Young talents more often than not get affected in the association's crossfire.
Badoni hails from Delhi and played all his age group cricket for Delhi. Fortunately, he has found the right coaches and mentors at the right times of his career. In his formative years as a cricketer, he honed his skills under the famous coach late Tarak Sinha. He found a mentor in Gautam Gambhir who hails from Delhi and was the mentor in the LSG setup. Badoni expresses gratitude to his first coach, the late Tarak Sinha, for his valuable guidance and teaching him cricket. He considers Sinha instrumental in his cricketing journey. Additionally, Badoni views Gautam Gambhir as an elder brother and a great mentor, highlighting the supportive role Gambhir has played in his career.
Image courtesy: X (LucknowIPL)
"For me, Tarak Sinha was my first coach. He helped and guided me very well. He taught me cricket and I am very grateful that I was coached under him. And of course, Gautam Gambhir is just like an elder brother to me. He's a great mentor."
Ayush Badoni oh his coaches and mentors.
IPL demands the players to be multi-skilled especially if the player is a lower-order batter. Badoni who just finished a full season of Ranji Trophy cricket for his Delhi team is back in Mumbai to participate in the DY Patil T20 tournament. It’s a corporate T20 tournament for many players to have good practice before the IPL. Badoni who primarily bats at number six for LSG wants to use this tournament to focus on his bowling skills.
"This IPL, I'm focusing more on my bowling, and I want to contribute to the team as a bowler too. So, the preparation is going well. I'm playing this DY Patil T20 tournament for practice."
Ayush Badoni on IPL 2024 preparation
Badoni bowls Right-arm Offbreak and has occasionally rolled his arm over in all forms of cricket. He can be a handy bowling option for the captain.
For many uncapped players, IPL is a mega stage to share the dressing room with the greats of the game. It’s a melting pot of cricket talents. Badoni does not miss any chance to learn from his peers and opponents. IPL has helped immensely for him to grow as a cricket player. In IPL you play quality, opposition, quality bowlers and bowl two quality batsman. So, it has helped me a lot and especially in domestic cricket I feel very easy playing there because I have handled the pressure in IPL, said Badoni.
IPL 2024 will be Badoni's third season in the tournament and could potentially be a breakout season as many players will be competing for a spot in the T20 World Cup in the USA immediately following the IPL.
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Dillip has over two decades of experience in creating sports content. As the Sports Editor of SportsBoom, Dillip brings in a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. Dillip has worked with leading sports broadcasters and sports web content portals in Asia. He is an adept storyteller and has a special liking for data stories. He has a keen interest in data analysis and uncovering insights from large datasets. He loves to tell the story with rich and compelling data visualisation.