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Ahead of the second ODI against New Zealand, Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak spoke on inclusion of Delhi youngster Ayush Badoni in the squad, saying that he has performed really well for India A in the opportunities he has got and also in the Indian Premier League (IPL), making him a good candidate to fill shoes of all-rounder Washington Sundar with his useful right-arm offbreak, making him a like-for-like replacement for the Tamil Nadu star.
After Sundar was ruled out of the remainder of the two ODIs against New Zealand, Badoni being drafted in the Indian side, in the presence of all-rounder Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh and Axar Patel, which surprised many, considering that before that, he had never been close to the set-up. Speaking during the presser, Kotak said, "He has been playing, he has been performing, he has played some India A one-day and he has performed and particularly, obviously it is selectors who pick the team, but for any common man when Washington's out, you cannot, normally no team would go with only five bowlers, like say for example last game if we had only five bowlers and Washington got injured on fourth, fifth over, then who will bowl those overs, so every team would like have sixth bowling option, sometimes if it is an all-rounder like Washington then a equally good bowler, sometimes it might be a more of a batter who can bowl." "If required, somebody should be able to bowl four, five or three/four overs, whatever is needed. He has scored a couple of 50s for India A and can bowl. He has performed well in the IPL and white-ball cricket, so good luck to him," he added. In 27 List A appearances so far, Badoni has made 693 runs at an average of 36.47, with a strike rate of over 93, with a century and five fifties and best score of 100. He has also taken 18 wickets at an average of 29.72 and an economy rate of 4.54, with best figures of 3/29. During the South Africa A tour to India last year, Badoni had registered a half-century, a knock of 66 in the second unofficial ODI and had spells of 0/15 (four overs) and 0/43 (seven overs) in two matches he played. Also, in Australia A's tour to India last year, he had taken three wickets in two matches at an average of 16.33 and scored 21 in a solitary inning. In 56 IPL matches and 46 innings for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as a middle-order batter, he has made 963 runs at an average of 26.75, with a strike rate of 138.56, including six fifties and best score of 74. Squads: India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Ayush Badoni, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel New Zealand Squad: Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Adithya Ashok, Jayden Lennox, Nick Kelly, Josh Clarkson, Michael Rae. (ANI)
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