New Delhi: South Delhi Superstarz captain Ayush Badoni held himself accountable for the team’s three-run loss in the final against East Delhi Riders in the inaugural season of the Delhi Premier League T20 2024 on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
East Delhi Riders rode on the all-round brilliance of Mayank Rawat and the disciplined bowling in the powerplay. Mayank was unbeaten on 78 from 39 balls, powering the Riders to a sizeable score of 183 for 5 after 20 overs. Despite Tejasvi Dahiya’s (68 runs from 42 balls) dogged resistance and late hitting from Digvesh Rathi (21 runs from 16 balls), South Delhi couldn’t get past the finishing line.
One of the turning points of the match was Mayank’s five blistering sixes off Ayush Badoni’s final over in the first innings. At a point 160 was the ideal score projected for East Delhi but the 30-run over boosted their confidence and translated in picking early wickets in the powerplay during the chase.
“I think I blame myself for it. Only the overs of spinners were left. So as a captain, I thought that I should take the risk. But that did backfire and I blame myself for the loss. We finished as runners-up, so its a good achievement,” Ayush Badoni told reporters after the heartbreaking loss.
Priyansh Arya (608 runs at a strike rate of 198.69) and Ayush Badoni (522 runs at a strike rate of 225) scored the cream of runs for South Delhi throughout the tournament. But both batters departed early in the chase for low scores and the team was tested in the summit clash.
‘It is not like that (the team is relied on me and Priyansh in the batting). We both have scored runs right from the start but then everyone has contributed from the middle order and lower order in the team. In T20s, one player clicks well but luckily we both performed well in all matches,” Ayush responded on reliability of team on him and Priyansh with the bat.
Tejasvi opens up on pressure
Tejasvi Dahiya was left gutted, going down on his knees, after his dismissal by East Delhi’s strike pacer Simarjeet Singh. He carried the responsibility of the chase after departures of Priyansh and Ayush. He batted sensibly while punishing the bad balls, hitting seven boundaries and four sixes.
In the penultimate over of the chase when South Delhi needed 26 runs from 12 balls, Digvesh smashed Simarjeet for a six on a no-ball but failed to capitalise on the free hit delivery leading to additional pressure. He was dismissed the very next ball after refusing to rotate the strike to Digvesh.
“You can say it (missed the chance to hit Simarjeet on free hit). The next ball if the boundary would have come then it would have washed out (the pressure). As a set batsman, I took the responsibility of facing the six balls of the Simarjeet over as he was their strike bowler,” Tejasvi said.
To be honest, I didn’t have enough options to mark out. Our team had lost a lot of wickets in a short span. I just had to wait for the right opportunity where the ball would come in my slot and I was trying to hit in my strongest areas,” he added.
South Delhi Superstarz captain Ayush Badoni held himself accountable for the team’s three-run loss in the final against East Delhi Riders in the inaugural season of the Delhi Premier League T20 2024 on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
