Former South Africa cricketer Jonty Rhodes was impressed by Ayush Badoni’s “tremendous hitting ability”, saying that Badoni reminded him of Herschelle Gibbs. The 24 year-old recently slammed a 39-ball century while representing South Delhi Superstarz in a Delhi Premier League match against North Delhi Strikers. He slammed 10 fours and 19 sixes.
Badoni plays for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL and plays for Delhi in domestic cricket. He has scored 634 runs in 42 IPL matches with a strike rate of 134.04. Rhodes, the fielding coach of LSG, termed Badoni as a “precocious talent”. “He (Badoni) is a precocious talent that is for sure, he is short so he has got a low centre of gravity,” the 55 year-old told news agency PTI.
“He gets under the good length deliveries he can hit it anywhere around the ground, he has such fast hands. Justin Langer was so impressed with the sheer talent that he has," he added.
Former Proteas star Gibbs was also synonymous with his big-hitting abilities. Gibbs finished his 14-year international career scoring over 14,500 runs. “He reminds me a bit of Herschelle Gibbs,” said Rhodes.
“He has tremendous hitting ability and when he matches that with calmness, presence of mind, good game plan, he will become a really tough guy to bowl to because he can play both conventional and unconventional shots with ease," he added.
His knock of 165 runs off 55 deliveries helped South Delhi Superstarz post a big total of 308/5, the second-highest team total in T20s. “I was just looking to time the ball well, I never thought I would end up hitting 19 sixes in an innings. I just focus on timing the ball and not trying to hit the ball hard,” said the former India Under-19 cricketer.


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