Lucknow Super Giants youngster Ayush Badoni made a name for himself as he slammed a brilliant half century during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 encounter against Gujarat Lions. The right-hander came at a difficult time and stitched together a good partnership with Deepak Hooda.
In an interview ahead of Lucknow’s game against Chennai Super Kings on Thursday, team mentor Gautam Gambhir, who had a huge role in identifying the young cricketer’s talent in the past, praised him for his batting but also pointed out that “one innings doesn’t make him a superstar”.
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“Too early to talk too much about him because one innings doesn’t make you a superstar,” Gambhir said on Thursday. The former India left-hander, however, was quick to add that the 22-year-old is very talented and was on the radar for a long time. “Yes, he’s got loads of talent and that’s why he’s sitting in this dressing room. We did identify his talent. We’ve seen him for a long time as he comes from Delhi. The most important thing for him is to stay balanced and for us also to keep him balanced,” the former opener added when asked about the youngster’s performance.
Badoni was picked up for his base price of ₹20 lakh in the mega auction. The Delhi batsman made good on his opportunity as he scored a superb 54 after his side lost early wickets.
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Earlier, Badoni spoke about how Gambhir helped him in developing his natural game.
“Gautam bhaiya backed me a lot. 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’,” said Badoni.
