How many 22-year-olds can claim to be able to spot Rashid Khan's googly? Ayush Badoni outdid most people his age. Playing for the Lucknow Super Giants, he not only picked the googly, but he also slog-swept it for a six. Played a hook shot off Lockie Ferguson's bowling for another six and a lap shot off Pandya's bowling for a boundary towards fine-leg, demonstrating that he can play pace as well.
Came in to bat at number 6 with his team, making its IPL debut and precariously placed at 29/4, Ayush along with Deepak Hooda bailed the team out of trouble.
The young batter scored 54 runs off 41 balls, hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes. Such high-class batting can occur when one is not paying attention to any outside noise and this is evident by what he said in the interview when asked about his innings, "I wasn’t looking at the score, I was just batting and wasn’t thinking of my fifty. I just wanted to play my natural game. I realized I got a fifty only after I got there," Badoni told broadcasters.
Ayush Badoni started off at a slow pace realizing that the team couldn’t afford to lose another wicket but as soon as the team reached a comfortable position, he unleashed himself to take the team’s total to a respectable 158/6 in their 20 overs.
The young lad from Delhi also said that he was nervous before the match but the first boundary gave him some confidence
"I couldn’t sleep last night, I was very nervous. After I hit the first boundary, I got confidence. The ball was cutting initially and after six overs it does get flat. I think we have got a good total on the board," he said.
Apart from Badoni, Hooda also contributed a valiant half-century, which shifted the momentum in LSG's favor. His innings was peppered with two sixes and six fours.
Mohammad Shami was the pick of the bowlers for Gujarat Titans as he rattled Lucknow's top-order batters.
LSG lost the last-over thriller by five wickets at the hands of GT. Shami bagged the Player of the Match for his figures of 3/25 in his 4 overs.
(WITH NEWS18 INPUTS)
