“Where Talent Meets Opportunity” the motto of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is engraved in the IPL trophy in Sanskrit language. True to the slogan, IPL has unearthed many such talents to enrich the cricket fraternity, especially in India. Ayush Badoni is one such talent who is gearing up to play his 3rd IPL season.

Picked by IPL team Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 2022 IPL Auction for 20 Lakhs, Badoni made an impressive debut by scoring a fifty. Batting at number 6, his innings was not just slam bam cricket but a well-paced display of maturity, taking calculated risks to steer his team from a tough position of 29-4 to a solid total of 158 in 20 overs.

Speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.com, Badoni lays out his plans for the upcoming IPL and explains how his role is well-defined in the team.

Badoni's first IPL fifty exemplified the approach to play with freedom and no pressure. It marked LSG's debut match in the IPL as a franchise. Facing a top-order collapse, the team seemed destined for a disappointing match. Before this, Ayush Badoni had batted only once in a T20 innings, scoring just 8 runs in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Delhi.

Image courtesy: X (IPL)

Coming in at a delicate situation, battling the nerves in his debut IPL match, Badoni showed nerves of steel and scored a 41 ball 54. He stitched together two crucial partnerships with Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya to take his team to a respectable total.

Badoni declared his arrival on the biggest stage that night prompting cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle to ask him - Where have you been hiding? - in the mid-innings interview.
Unlike Mumbai where the domestic cricket structure and system support budding talents to find their way up, Delhi's system is marred with association feuds and nepotism. Young talents more often than not get affected in the association's crossfire.

Badoni hails from Delhi and played all his age group cricket for Delhi. Fortunately, he has found the right coaches and mentors at the right times of his career. In his formative years as a cricketer, he honed his skills under the famous coach late Tarak Sinha. He found a mentor in Gautam Gambhir who hails from Delhi and was the mentor in the LSG setup. Badoni expresses gratitude to his first coach, the late Tarak Sinha, for his valuable guidance and teaching him cricket. He considers Sinha instrumental in his cricketing journey. Additionally, Badoni views Gautam Gambhir as an elder brother and a great mentor, highlighting the supportive role Gambhir has played in his career.

Image courtesy: X (LucknowIPL)

IPL demands the players to be multi-skilled especially if the player is a lower-order batter. Badoni who just finished a full season of Ranji Trophy cricket for his Delhi team is back in Mumbai to participate in the DY Patil T20 tournament. It’s a corporate T20 tournament for many players to have good practice before the IPL. Badoni who primarily bats at number six for LSG wants to use this tournament to focus on his bowling skills.