Talented Lucknow Super Giants youngster Ayush Badoni, who scored a quickfire fifty on his IPL debut, said that mentor Gautam Gambhir has backed him and asked him to play his natural game. He even assured him of a proper run this season as well. Notably, LSG bought him for Rs 20 lakh in the IPL 2022 mega auction and he paid off the trust by reaching his first IPL fifty by smashing a 146.9kmph Lockie Ferguson bouncer for a maximum.
Deepak Hooda also scored 55 off 41 balls and Ayush Badoni scored 54 off 41 balls, helping the Super Giants recover to a respectable total of 158/6 after Shami 3/25 removed their top-order. Needing 68 off the last 30 balls, Gujarat Titans were up against it but Rahul Tewatia’s unbeaten 40, David Miller’s 30 off 21 and IPL debutant Abhinav Manohar 15 not out off 7 pulled off a stunning win for their team with two balls to spare.
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“Gautam bhaiya backed me a lot,” Ayush Badoni said in the post-match press conference. “He told me to play just my natural game. He told me you won’t get the one-odd match, but you will get a proper run. He also told me, ‘you don’t need to play according to the situation. There are senior players to do that. You show us your natural game’.”
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“My name had been coming for three consecutive years and I was going unsold every time. I had attended camps of 2-3 teams but I didn’t know if I’d be picked. Lucknow eventually picked me and I am very grateful. After I was picked by Lucknow, I had scores of fifty-plus in two trial games. That impressed Gautam bhaiya and the coaches Vijay sir and Andy Flower and hence they were confident of sending me before Krunal Pandya,” he further added.
