On his IPL debut, Ayush Badoni had turned a lot of heads with a brilliant fifty when he bailed his side, Lucknow Super Giants, out of trouble against Gujarat Titans and took them to a fighting total.
Four matches and four innings have been done now, in IPL 2022 and Ayush Badoni has continued to impress in all of them. In the second, against Chennai Super Kings, he smashed 19 unbeaten runs off 9 balls as LSG completed a record 211-run chase, before he scored 19 off 12 balls versus Sunrisers Hyderabad to give LSG a late flourish; they eventually won the game by just 12 runs.
On Thursday evening then, against Delhi Capitals, Ayush Badoni once again finished off the innings, a chase of 150 that had gotten tricky and went down the wire.
The 22-year-old Ayush Badoni came into bat with 5 runs needed off 5 balls, the experienced Shardul Thakur bowling the last over. Thakur bowled a short ball outside off that Badoni let go thinking it was a wide, but the umpire didn’t feel the same.
There were no jitters in the youngster as on the next ball he calmly drove the next full toss between the diving fielders at extra cover and mid-off to effectively seal the game. With one needed off 3 balls, he then sealed the game with a stunning maximum over extra cover. Not much of a wild celebration from the youngster but a little fist pump in the air and that was that.
Netizens erupted in praise for the 22-year-old Ayush Badoni as he made another vital contribution towards the end of the innings. Among many tweets, one stood out – that of renowned statistician Mohandas Menon.
Mohandas Menon used his cheeky pun wordplay and said that India have found their next finisher after MS Dhoni.
He tweeted: “After MS Dhoni, we will now have a BA Doni!”
Here’s Mohandas Menon’s funny yet a special appreciative tweet for Ayush Badoni:
After MS Dhoni, we will now have a BA Doni!#Badoni#IPL #IPL2022
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) April 7, 2022
