Delhi batsman Ayush Badoni, who is going through a rough patch in his cricket career, was asked to stay at the team hotel ahead of the Ranji Trophy match against Uttarakhand. Badoni rose to fame during the Indian Premier League 2022, when he played some brilliant knocks for the Lucknow Super Giants against some quality international bowlers.

The decision was a new low in Delhi’s disastrous Ranji Trophy campaign, which was taken by some influential team officials. His motive was to teach Ayush Badoni a lesson, PTI reported. However, his absence from the team did not make any change in their fortunes as they finished with 147 runs in their first innings in the Ranji Trophy Group D match against Uttarakhand that was played in Mohali.

Between DelhiAfter the failure of his performance with the bat, Ayush Badoni, who played an innings of 41 and 6 runs in the previous game, is the only player who can be said to have the potential to be selected for the national team. However, Kshitiz Sharma, who is considered especially close to a former BCCI incumbent, had a chance against Uttarakhand. Sharma could only score 8 runs and was dismissed cheaply by Abhay Negi.

A senior DDCA official, while speaking to PTI, stated that there was pressure on the board to play Kshitiz Sharma and keep Ayush Badoni out of the 15. This was done because Badoni will also not get the allotted match that the BCCI gives to all national players. The official further claimed that the team manager would have had to take care of his meals as the BCCI would not have paid for them during breaks or match days.

Ayush Badoni forcibly detained in team hotel by DDCA

He said, “Yes, there was pressure to play Kshitiz and specifically to keep Badoni out of 15, so that he doesn’t even get the match fees allocated by the BCCI. Only 15 players are eligible for BCCI match fees. As he cannot be allowed into the PMOA (Players and Match Officials Area), it was thought it would be best to keep him in the hotel.”

“The team managers would have had to arrange his meals separately as the BCCI would not have paid for them and also during breaks or the match, he would not have been able to attend the nets as Punjab CA has their camp. So it was better to leave him at the hotel.”

“If Ayush had scored a 100, those who desperately want to see him out of Delhi cricket would not have had the opportunity to raise their voices and lobby for cricketers like Kshitiz, who do not deserve to be in the dressing room. Even he should take the blame for not scoring runs,” the senior official added, quoted by PTI.

Delhi batsman and former captain Yash Dhull was his team’s top run-scorer on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy match against Uttarakhand. Dhull scored 47 runs off 94 balls and hit a total of 5 fours during his innings. Vaibhav Kandpal scored 22 off 43 balls, while Arpit Rana scored 19 runs off 35 balls. Hrithik Shokeen scored 15 runs, while Navdeep Saini was unbeaten on 10 runs.

However, no other batsman could reach double figures and even captain Himmat Singh walked away without troubling the scorers.

Devendra Singh Bora and Abhay Negi picked up 3 wickets each for Uttarakhand, while Akash Madhwal and Deepak Dhopala finished with 2 wickets each.