Badoni walks the talk with his second double ton for Delhi

In the build-up to the 2026-27 Ranji Trophy season, Delhi skipper Ayush Badoni had explicitly stated his desire to rack up big scores in the First Class competition. It hasn’t taken long for the 26-year-old to walk the talk.

On day two of Delhi’s second Ranji game, against Gujarat at the Palam ‘B’ ground in Group C, Badoni amassed a career-best 217 off just 246 deliveries. It was his second double century for Delhi and third in all. As he was prompt to point out later, he had scored an unbeaten 204 for North Zone in the Duleep Trophy last year.

Having resumed on a score of 115, the middle-order stroke-maker, in the company of fellow overnight batter Sumit Mathur, made further merry on Monday as the host went on to compile 648 for six declared. The mammoth total entailed a 167-run partnership between Badoni and Mathur, who fell eight runs shy of a century. It was once Mathur holed out at cow corner off part-timer Manan Hingrajia that Delhi decided to declare.

While Delhi’s bowlers also had to toil in the final session, off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen snared the scalps of openers Aarya Desai and Abhishek Desai as the visitors closed the day at 98 for two in 35 overs. The latter was particularly unlucky to be dismissed, his flick hitting Sanat Sangwan’s helmet at short-leg and the deflection lobbing to Ayush Doseja at slip.

When Gujarat’s Vedant Trivedi and Hingrajia take guard on Tuesday, they will hope to take a cue from the manner in which Badoni and Mathur scored runs all around the ground. The key for the Delhi duo was to negotiate the first hour of play when Gujarat was armed with the second new ball. Once that was out of the way, Badoni, in particular, batted with utmost ease. The celebration, or lack thereof, appeared to be an extension of his nonchalance, with the all-rounder not even bothering to unstrap his helmet or raise his bat on reaching the milestone of a double century.

“When I take wickets, I enjoy that a lot. I celebrate wholeheartedly. When I score hundreds, I am not expressive,” was Badoni’s reasoning at the end of the day’s play.

Scoreboard

Delhi:

1st innings: Priyansh Arya b Hingrajia 199, Sanat Sangwan c Urvil b Harshal 8, Yash Dhull c Trivedi b Harshal 10, Ayush Doseja (run out) 29, Ayush Badoni c Urvil b Jaymeet 217, Sumit Mathur c Abhishek b Hingrajia 92, Anuj Rawat (not out) 61; Extras (b-12, lb-13, w-7): 32; Total (for six wkts declared. in 84 136.4 overs): 648

Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-87, 3-142, 4-376, 5-543, 6-648

Gujarat bowling: Gaja 24-4-91-0, Nagwaswalla 24-1-91-0, Harshal 18-0-97-2, Jaymeet 18-6-66-1, Siddharth 26-2-127-0, Hingrajia 14.4-1-72-2, Jayswal 11-0-76-0, Aarya 1-0-3-0

Gujarat:

1st innings: Abhishek Desai c Doseja b Shokeen 34, Aarya Desai c Dhull b Shokeen 11, Vedant Trivedi (batting) 32, Manan Hingrajia (batting) 12; Extras (b-9): 9; Total (for two wkts. in 35 overs): 98

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-79

Delhi bowling: Divij 3-0-10-0, Saini 7-0-18-0, Shokeen 11-1-40-2, Grewal 3-0-4-0, Badoni 5-2-9-0, Mathur 5-1-6-0