Ayush Badoni started his captaincy stint in style, scoring a counter-attacking 116 not out on Day 3 against Jharkhand. Badoni shouldered Delhi’s fight in their first innings, as his unbeaten century took his side to 238 for 5 in response to Jharkhand’s 382.
With the match heading towards a draw, Delhi will be banking on Badoni to help them get the first-innings lead. At stumps, Badoni was accompanied by Sumit Mathur (19 not out), and the duo were involved in an 80-run stand for the sixth wicket, but the home team still trailed by 144 runs.
Badoni’s job is far from over, and it was reflected in his celebration. There was no hop, skip, and jump, no animated celebration, the Delhi captain didn’t even raise his bat, he just gave a thumbs up to Delhi teammates, who were clapping from the dugout.
Badoni walked in at number four with Delhi losing their in-form batters Sanat Sangwan (5) and Yash Dhull (18) cheaply, and Anuj Rawat (52) struggling to find the gaps. If it was Kumar Kushagra on Day 2 who impressed with his shot-making, it was Badoni’s day on Friday. His knock was studded with 11 crisp fours, including the punch through the covers that helped him get to his century, and four big sixes, all of them against the spinners.
Once discarded and now a Captain
It was only Badoni’s third first-class century, but he showed his quality and why he has been rated so highly by the current Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir.
In 2018-19, the then-Delhi captain and current Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir was playing his final domestic season. During a match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, former India and Delhi pacer Amit Bhandari knocked on the dressing room door, asking Gambhir to watch a young Ayush Badoni play. Gambhir nodded but kept his thoughts to himself.
After retiring a few months later, Gambhir called Bhandari to ask about Ayush. Bhandari reached out to coach Tarak Sinha, who told him Ayush was playing at Siri Fort. Gambhir drove to the ground to watch, and was deeply impressed by the young batter, wondering how Ayush had not yet played for Delhi.
In the 2021-22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Ayush played five matches for Delhi but was only given one chance to bat, scoring eight runs. While the DDCA selectors often overlooked him, he had found a mentor in Gambhir, who knew well the sting of rejection. It took years for Gambhir to break into the Indian team, and he remained in and out during his early career—building quite an experience.
Once Gambhir became the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of IPL 2022, Ayush Badoni was told by him that ‘He will get a long rope this year in the IPL and won’t be dropped just after a few games.’ The assurance from Gambhir helped Badoni to settle down. After spending three years with the franchise, he is now being retained ahead of the IPL mega auction.
“Gautam bhaiya has backed me a lot. He has told me to just play my natural game. He has always maintained that I must never curb my aggressive instinct,” Badoni told this newspaper during the IPL, earlier this year.
Badoni is also from Delhi’s famous academy — Sonnet Cricket Club. Devender Sharma, who has watched Badoni from close quarters for more than a decade, says the youngster has waited a long time before being picked for the Delhi Ranji team, but it is cricket that has kept him motivated.
“Once he played for India U-19 in 2018, the next four years were really a struggle for him. He didn’t get many chances, but he kept working on his game, and now he is the captain, and has started his stint in style” says Sharma.
Brief Scores
Jharkhand 1st Innings: 382 (Kumar Kushagra 156, Sharandeep Singh 66, Simarjeet Singh 3/52) vs Delhi 1st Innings: 238/5 (Ayush Badoni 116 batting, Anuj Rawat 52.)
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