Batting down the order in T20 cricket is fairly demanding. It requires players to fulfil dual roles of smashing the ball many a mile as well as weathering the storm in case of a batting collapse and the young Ayush Badoni of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) is performing both without making much fuss.
At just 24 years of age, Badoni is making heads turn with the kind of maturity he has and has impressed the most keen watchers of the sport. When the Delhi-born came out to bat in the 57th fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 17 Lucknow were in deep trouble with 66 for the loss of four wickets.
They needed a rescue act of the highest order and it came from their crisis man. Aware of the task at hand, Badoni stitched a 99-run partnership with his vice-captain Nicholas Pooran and helped the team post a respectable total on the scoreboard.
The right-handed batter was a bit tentative to get off the blocks and understandably so but changed gears swiftly to leave the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers by surprise. Badoni finished unbeaten at 55 off just 30 balls, with the help of nine fours.
He was not guilty of wasting a lot of balls while trying to get his eyes in and outscored Pooran at the end at a strike rate of 183.33 with the help of nine fours.
Notably, Badoni has been with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) since their maiden season (IPL 2022). Lucknow Super Giants bought him at the IPL 2022 mega auction for Rs 20 lakhs.
The right-handed batter is in the budding stage of his career. He has played 40 games in the lucrative tournament and aggregated 606 runs at a strike rate of 133.48. The youngster has four half-centuries to his name.
