Ayush Badoni announced his arrival in the Indian Premier League in impressive fashion on Monday as he helped his team Lucknow Super Giants post a competitive total against fellow tournament debutants Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Asked to bat first, Lucknow were in all sorts of trouble at 29/4 thanks mainly to a superb opening spell by Gujarat pacer Mohammed Shami. But that’s when young Badoni joined Deepak Hooda at the crease and the duo added 87 runs for the fifth wicket to revive the LSG innings.

While Hooda scored 55 off 41, Badoni finished with 54 off 41 as Lucknow posted a total of 158/6 in their 20 overs.

The 22-year-old right-hander hit four fours and three sixes in his entertaining knock. He went after Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya and got to his half-century in style with a six.

Badoni became the first player to score 50-plus runs on IPL debut batting at No 6 or below.

Speaking after the match, captain KL Rahul said: “He’s (Badoni) baby ‘AB’ for us. He has been phenomenal from the first day, the way he has been batting is unbelievable. For a little boy, he packs a punch, really strong and plays 360 degrees. You need young guys like that to come into the team, showcase what they can do. So happy for AB, as he worked hard and grabbed the opportunity. It was not ideal for him to walk out with us four down but he’s beaten the pressure pressure and hopefully, he can continue doing that and do the same damage in the coming games.”

Badoni spoke after the match about the backing from Gautam Gambhir.

“Gautam bhaiya backed me a lot,” Badoni said in the press conference. “He told me to play just my natural game. Play the ball, not the bowler. He told me you won’t just 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 too much. There are senior players to do that. You show us your natural game’ I was able to play freely because that.”

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Here are some reactions to Badoni’s knock:

Badoni represents Delhi in domestic cricket but is yet to make his first-class or List A debut. He has played five T20s for Delhi but batted in just one innings and scored eight runs. He was one of the many well known Delhi cricketers to have been coached by Dronacharya awardee Tarak Sinha.

He first caught attention when he slammed an unbeaten 185 off just 205 deliveries for India Under-19 against Sri Lanka Under-19 in a Youth Test in Colombo in 2018. He also picked four wickets with his right-arm off-spin in that match.

Later that year, Badoni also helped India win the Under-19 Asia Cup by scoring an unbeaten 28-ball 52 in the final against Sri Lanka.

Badoni was acquired by Lucknow Super Giants at the IPL 2022 mega auction for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. He had played his last match for Delhi in January 2021.

“I have been in the auction for three years and have gone unsold. I have been to trials for two-three teams but nobody picked me at the auction. My heart-rate was high during the auction. So I am grateful to Lucknow for picking me,” he said.

“The last three years have been a bit of a struggle. I didn’t get much of a chance with Delhi either. I played only one season, and got to bat only once. For that I have enhanced my game, I have added more shots, which has helped me a lot.”

With inputs from ESPNCricinfo