IPL 2022: Who is Ayush Badoni? All you need to know about Lucknow Super Giants' kid star

Mumbai, March 28: Ayush Badoni impressed everyone on his debut in IPL 2022 for Lucknow Super Giants, cracking a well-measured fifty against Gujarat Titans at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday (March 28).

So, who is Ayush Badoni? He is a 22-year-old cricketer from Delhi and has been signed by the Super Giants for his base price of Rs 20 lakh.

Badoni came to the crease when the Lucknow team was tottering at 29 for 4 after Mohammed Shami struck thrice with the new ball, removing Quinton de Kock, captain KL Rahul and the experienced Manish Pandey. Varun Aaron added to the miseries of Giants dismissing West Indian Even Lewis.

Badoni joined Deepak Hooda for the fifth wicket stand and needed to repair the innings and that was a big job considering the young man was playing his maiden IPL match. Badoni had to negate bowlers of the calibre of Shami, Rashid Khan and Lockie Ferguson on Monday night, and that is a task which can unnerve even some of the experienced.

But in the company of Hooda, Badoni first nullified Gujarat’s effort to take another wicket and pile more pressure on the Super Giants.

In the initial part of the innings Badoni played a defensive innings, understandable considering the situation the team was in and allowed more experienced Hooda to take charge.

Hooda played some big shots and brought up his own fifty but soon was dismissed by Rashid for 55. Lucknow, at that stage, was 116 for 5 in 15.5 overs. Hooda and Badoni made 87 runs for a priceless 5th wicket stand. But they needed someone to take charge of the back end overs and Badoni did just in the company of Krunal Pandya.

Badoni waded to Hardik Pandya and Varun Aaron with confidence and brought up a fifty of his own. Along with Krunal, Badoni rattled 40 runs in 3.5 overs to take Super Giants to a respectable 158 for 6.

Badoni, who was dropped by Ferguson on 40 off Shami. had also hogged headlines earlier when he smashed a 28-ball 52 against Sri Lanka in the 2018 under-19 Asia Cup.

Another star in the making?