Skipper Ayush Badoni played the most defining knock of his short but eventful first-class career as his maiden double hundred not only gave Delhi three points against Jharkhand but more importantly kept them in contention for a possible quarter-final berth in the Ranji Trophy on Saturday.
Delhi are third in group D with 14 points from five games and would need two outright wins in January against Saurashtra and Railways to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Badoni, always considered a prodigious talent since his junior level days, also showed his spark in the IPL with some fine knocks but unfortunately over the past couple of seasons could hardly ever translate it into a big one.
Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer may have retained Badoni for his shortest format exploits but when he worked with the former Australia opener for a few weeks in 2023 at WACA on his grip, he might have learned a few more lessons.
There Badoni might have imbibed Langer-like-bullish attitude which was displayed in abundance during his unbeaten knock of 205, laced with 16 fours and 10 sixes.
The innings almost singlehandedly carried Delhi past Jharkhand's more than decent first innings score of 382.
In fact, on 199, Badoni lofted Jharkhand's left-arm spinner Anukul Roy into the stands to give his team the first innings lead and also completed his individual milestone.
There was a fist pump, a loud roar and then a shake of hands to indicate the end of proceedings.
Badoni did get a lot of support from Sumit Mathur (43), with whom he added 150 runs for the sixth wicket. While Delhi were in a spot of bother at 327 for 7 with 56 runs still required but senior player Shivam Sharma (33) gave good support to his skipper.
“Justin Langer also taught me a lot about aggression. How to control aggression and when to display. It helped me a lot. He changed certain things in my grip,” Badoni told reporters.
Badoni termed his WACA stint “good fun.”
“Yes, the wickets there were different from what we get over here. The wickets were very bouncy. It was a good exposure,” he said.
Badoni, who was sent to bat lower down the order earlier decided to bat at his favourite No. 4 position where he had got his two previous first-class hundreds.
“Yes, I have two hundreds at that number. So, I wanted to bat at No. 4. I will try to bat at number 4 for Delhi during Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.”
Badoni did admit that IPL retention for LSG has allowed him to bat freely.
“Yes, I wanted to stay in LSG for 3 years. So, when I was retained, my mind was cleared off the auction thing,” Badoni said.
He is also Delhi's top wicket-taker this season with his off-breaks and credited coach Sarandeep Singh for some sound technical advice.
“After last IPL, I thought about developing myself as an all-rounder. I bowled in DPL too. Sarandeep sir also said that bowling will be an addition, an asset. He told me a few things related to thumb positioning,” he added.
Brief Scores
In Delhi: Jharkhand 382. Delhi 1st Innings: 388/7 (Ayush Badoni 205 not out, Anuj Rawat 52). Match Drawn: Points: Delhi 3 Jharkhand 1.
In Raipur: Assam 289 and 2nd Innings 279 (Parvej Musaraf 94, Ravi Kiran 5/56). Chhattisgarh 500/9 decl and 8/0. Match drawn.
Points: Chattisgarh 3 Assam 1.
In Chandigarh: Saurashtra 531/9 decl. Chandigarh 249 and 2nd Innings 223 (Ankit Kaushik 78, J Unadkat 3/44, D Jadeja 3/42).
Saurashtra won by an innings and 49 runs.
Points: Saurashtra 7. Chandigarh 0.
In Ahmedabad: Railways 229 and 184 (Mohd Saif 60, Ajith Ram 4/30, Sonu Yadav 4/50) vs Tamil Nadu: 438. TN won by an innings and 125 runs.
Points: TN 7. Railways 0.
