“He’s baby AB for us”: KL Rahul compares Ayush Badoni with AB de Villiers due to his 360 degree skill set

KL Rahul compares Ayush Badoni with AB de Villiers: The captain of Lucknow Super Giants sung praises for the rookie batter.

Lucknow Super Giants captain Lokesh Rahul labeled their first match as “phenomenal” in spite of ending up on the losing side of a thrilling contest. While LSG did come back from behind on a couple of occasions to put Gujarat Titans on the back foot tonight, it wasn’t to be eventually as GT sealed a 159-run chase with five wickets and two balls remaining in the match.

“It was a phenomenal game. What a way to start the campaign. Starting of like that [first-ball duck for him] with the bat was not ideal but the way we recovered was phenomenal. It gives us so much confidence when the batters in the middle and lower order can do the job,” Rahul told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.

After being put in to bat first by Titans captain Hardik Pandya (33), Rahul witnessed Super Giants recovering from 29/4 to score a competitive 158/6 in 20 overs. The same wouldn’t have been possible without an 87-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Deepak Hooda (55) and Ayush Badoni (54).

Lucknow further tightened their grip on the match after dismissing Pandya and Matthew Wade (30) in successive overs. With the opposition needing to score at almost 10 runs per over for eight overs, Rahul and his men couldn’t hold on to an advantage.

Only three-day long, IPL 2022 has already forced players and experts to discuss how dew has increased the importance of a toss. Rahul iterated the fact highlighting how gripping a “wet ball” had become a concern for their bowlers at the Wankhede Stadium.

“It gets really difficult with the dew to grip the ball but I don’t want to give that as an excuse. We have to go back and practice bowling with the wet ball. We executed most of our plans but with a wet ball it skids on nicely,” Rahul mentioned.

KL Rahul compares Ayush Badoni with AB de Villiers due to his 360 degree skill set

Having played a solitary T20 innings before this match, 22-year old Badoni caught everyone’s attention on the back of his maiden half-century comprising of four fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 131.70. Batting at No. 6 in just the fifth over, the manner in which Badoni hit boundaries off Hardik Pandya, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan was unbelievable.

Comparing the right-hand batter to former South Africa captain and his former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers, Rahul was particularly appreciative of Badoni’s 360-degree skill set hoping for him to continue batting in the same fashion this season.

“He [Ayush Badoni] is our baby AB [AB de Villiers]. He has been phenomenal from the first day. For a little boy, he packs a punch and plays 360 degrees. So happy for him as he grabbed the opportunity. It was not ideal for him to walk out with us four down but he did well under pressure and hopefully he can continue doing that,” Rahul concluded.

Not playing in the IPL for the first time, de Villiers has been already compared to a couple of players. Before Rahul’s comments tonight, there had been enough talks around labeling Mumbai Indians batter Dewald Brevis as “Baby AB“.