Balraj Kumar, Ayush Badoni’s childhood coach, chuckled as Ayush Badoni, 22, slid over and lapped Hardik Pandya to the fine-leg boundary. He’d just warned his sceptic daughter to be on the lookout for such a shot. “He used to play that cricket when he was 9 years old!” chuckles Ballu sir, moments after Ayush’s spectacular IPL debut, in which he astonished Gujarat with a confident game-changing fifty.
Three shots stood out in the former U-19 world cup player’s knock, three shots that Ayush is sure to re-watch on the Hotstar app late at night. That Pandya lap, a commanding swipe over midwicket off a Rashid Khan googly, and a breathtaking smash over cow corner against Lockie Ferguson’s pace. The debutant batted away a high-quality spinner, a pacer, and a medium pacer who was attempting to strangle.
The coach’s mind jumps back and forth between images from the past and the present. A night in Ayush’s residence when he was roughly 14 years old is depicted in this moving image. Despite three hundred at the U-14 level, the coach claims that the youngster was extremely distraught
when he was not selected for the U-16 team the following year. “Ab kya karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon karoon the youngster would yelp from his position on the floor.
Ayush had vented his annoyance and wrath by slamming the ball around for a few hours in late-night training. Without saying anything, Balraj continued to throw the ball. “Are three hundred nothing, sir?” Near midnight, Ayush remarked. Balraj, the coach, became enraged.
The coach recalls Ayush leaping to his feet and sputtering, “double hundreds?” “All right, sir.” Ayush’s chance at a game would come as a result of an injury to another player. “He got it against Haryana at Rohtak.” What did he do? He didn’t throw a batting pitch. You’ve made it to the double digits! Who could stop him now?!”
Balraj, on the other hand, is convinced that his instincts were correct. “Children of that age usually try to imitate a famous player like Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli. Ayush, on the other hand, has always been a peculiar character. In addition, he was punctual.” Balraj created a pitch on the patio because his father was still worried about how a small amount of practise time at school would transfer into anything.
“Every day after school, I’d put up nets around the walls and we’d play on the cement track for hours.” “I used to spend most of my time at their house. I told the father to keep throwing the ball until I got back to Punjab.” As Ayush grew older and more passionate about cricket, he would alternate his training at the Sonnet cricket academy with the renowned coach Tarik Sinha while maintaining contact with Balraj.
“Ayush hardly ever speaks or smiles!” ‘Ballu, yeh apni marzi ka raja hai (he does as he pleases!)’ Tarik Sinha sir once informed me. ‘Why doesn’t he talk to us more?’ his aunts have wondered. Which is correct, and which I feel will propel him forward.
He has that demeanour. You can call it whatever you want, but I think of it as a unique player’s focus and approach. It’s not something everyone has, but he does. He’s worked with a lot of big names, from Rahul Dravid to Sinha sir, and he’ll take anything he thinks will help him improve his game, but he’s not a pleaser if you get what I mean. He is Apni Marzi ka maalik hai.
Published By : Ankit Singh
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
