Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) played out a last-ball thriller in IPL 2023 on Monday (April 10). LSG prevailed scampering a bye off the final ball even as a lot of drama unfolded. A lot of things happened in the game that kept the fans on the tenterhooks. Nicholas Pooran was the architect of the victory for LSG with a 14-ball half-century before eventually finishing on 62 off 19 balls. Marcus Stoinis was the aggressor early on with a 65-run knock off 30 balls but another player who is quietly making key contributions in every game has been LSG's impact player Ayush Badoni.
The 23-year-old cricketer has come into LSG's XI regularly as an impact player this season so far and has scored 18, 23 and 30 runs respectively. These numbers might not seem huge but their impact is such that the team has been benefitted. Badoni was acquired by Lucknow franchise in IPL 2022 auction for his base price of INR 20 lakh and youngster immediately impressed playing sparkling knocks in last ball finishes. Though his performance faded away as the season progresses, the new kid on the block had impressed the who's who of the cricketing fraternity.
Even in the game against RCB, while chasing a mammoth total of 213 runs, Badoni came out to bat at number seven with his team in doldrums at 105/5 in the 12th over. From here on, he quietly witnessed the Nicholas Pooran storm from the other end while churning out crucial runs of his own. But when Pooran got out with the team still needing 24 runs, Badoni took onus on himself to hit crucial boundaries as things got close. He was unfortunate to get out in the penultimate over while trying to scoop Wayne Parnell.
While he was successful in his attempt of playing the shot as the ball went for a six, Badoni couldn't control his bat flow as it hit the stumps in the process. Nevertheless, his knock of 30 runs off 24 balls might not have seemed impactful compared to Pooran or Stoinis, but it took LSG close and without him, the team would've lost it even after Pooran's onslaught.
Here are some of the interesting facts about Ayush Badoni:
He was born on December 3, 1999 in Delhi.
Ayush Badoni is a product of Delhi's Sonnet Cricket Club that was founded by Late Tarak Sinha. The club has produced cricketer's like Ashish Nehra, Nitish Rana, Shikhar Dhawan among many others.
Ayush Badoni came into the limelight back in 2018 when he blasted 52 off 28 balls against for India U19 team against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final.
Ayush Badoni's IPL salary is INR 20 lakh.
Ayush Badoni made his IPL debut last year in 2022. He had an experience of playing only 5 T20 matches when he made his IPL debut.
Overall now, Badoni has played 3 FC, 5 List A and 30 T20 matches in this career and has impressed many with his ability.
