‘One innings doesn’t make him a superstar’: Gautam Gambhir after promising Indian cricketer makes heads turn in IPL 2022 | Cricket

At a time when the cricket fraternity is going gaga over Lucknow Super Giants youngster Ayush Badoni for his blistering debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL), his team mentor Gautam Gambhir said “it’s too early” to predicted big things for the young right-hander. Gambhir, who has had a big role to play identifying Badoni’s talent, said “one innings doesn’t make him a superstar”. Gambhir’s comments came minutes before LSG’s second match in IPL 2022 against Chennai Super Kings’ at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. 

“Too early to talk too much about him because one innings doesn’t make you a superstar,” Gambhir said on Thursday. The former India left-hander, however, was quick to add that the 22-year-old is very talented and was on the radar for a long time. “Yes, he’s got loads of talent and that’s why he’s sitting in this dressing room. We did identify his talent. We’ve seen him for a long time as he comes from Delhi. The most important thing for him is to stay balanced and for us also to keep him balanced,” the former opener added.

Badoni, a former India U19 player, was picked up for his base price of ₹20 lakh by newcomers LSG in the mega auction. The right-hander, who hails from Delhi smashed a superb 54 when his side had lost its top four in the powerplay on debut against Gujarat Titans to force everyone to take a note.

After the match, Badoni had in fact credited Gambhir for backing him to play his natural game.

“Gautam bhaiya backed me a lot. He told me to play just my natural game. He told me you won’t 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. There are senior players to do that. You show us your natural game’,” said Badoni.

Gambhir, a two-time IPL winning captain, has been appointed as the mentor of the Lucknow franchise. Speaking about his new role the two-time World champion said: “It’s been good so far. It’s a new role, a new challenge because there are emotions involved with the franchise. When the players do well, you feel happy. Obviously you feel sad as well when they don’t do well.  Hopefully the young talented guys can develop from here as we want to grow with this new franchise.”