Showing 'Langer-Like Grit', Skipper Badoni's Double Ton Keeps Delhi In Quarters Hunt

Skipper Ayush Boni played most defining knock of his short but eventful first-class career as his maiden double hundred not only gave Delhi three points against Jharkhand but more importantly kept m in contention for a possible quarter-final berth in Ranji Trophy here on Saturday.

Delhi are third in group D with 14 points from five games and would need two outright wins in January against Saurashtra and Railways to qualify for quarter-finals.

Boni, always considered a prodigious talent since his junior level days, also showed his spark in IPL with some fine knocks but unfortunately over past couple of seasons could hardly ever translate it into a big one.

Lucknow Super Giants he coach Justin Langer may have retained Boni for his shortest format exploits but when he worked with former Australia opener for a few weeks in 2023 at WACA on his grip, he might have learned a few more lessons.

re Boni might have imbibed Langer-like-bullish attitude which was displayed in abundance during his unbeaten knock of 205, laced with 16 fours and 10 sixes.

innings almost singlehandedly carried Delhi past Jharkhand's more than decent first innings score of 382.

In fact, on 199, Boni lofted Jharkhand's left-arm spinner Anukul Roy into stands to give his team first innings le and also completed his individual milestone.

re was a fist pump, a loud roar and n a shake of hands to indicate end of proceedings.

Boni did get a lot of support from Sumit Mathur (43), with whom he ded 150 runs for sixth wicket. While Delhi were in a spot of bor at 327 for 7 with 56 runs still required but senior player Shivam Sharma (33) gave good support to his skipper.

“Justin Langer also taught me a lot about aggression. How to control aggression and when to display. It helped me a lot. He changed certain things in my grip,” Boni told reporters.

Boni termed his WACA stint “good fun.” “Yes, wickets re were different from what we get over here. wickets were very bouncy. It was a good exposure,” he said.

Boni, who was sent to bat lower down order earlier decided to bat at his favourite No. 4 position where he h got his two previous first-class hundreds.

“Yes, I have two hundreds at that number. So, I wanted to bat at No. 4. I will try to bat at number 4 for Delhi during Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.” Boni did mit that IPL retention for LSG has allowed him to bat freely.

“Yes, I wanted to stay in LSG for 3 years. So, when I was retained, my mind was cleared off auction thing,” Boni said.

He is also Delhi's top wicket-taker this season with his off-breaks and credited coach Sarandeep Singh for some sound technical vice.

“After last IPL, I thought about developing myself as an all-rounder. I bowled in DPL too. Sarandeep sir also said that bowling will be an dition, an asset. He told me a few things related to thumb positioning,” he ded.

Brief Scores In Delhi: Jharkhand 382. Delhi 1st Innings: 388/7 (Ayush Boni 205 not out, Anuj Rawat 52). Match Drawn: Points: Delhi 3 Jharkhand 1.

In Raipur: Assam 289 and 2nd Innings 279 (Parvej Musaraf 94, Ravi Kiran 5/56). Chhattisgarh 500/9 decl and 8/0. Match drawn.

Points: Chattisgarh 3 Assam 1.

In Chandigarh: Saurashtra 531/9 decl. Chandigarh 249 and 2nd Innings 223 (Ankit Kaushik 78, J Unkat 3/44, D Jeja 3/42).

Saurashtra won by an innings and 49 runs.

Points: Saurashtra 7. Chandigarh 0.

In Ahmedab: Railways 229 and 184 (Mohd Saif 60, Ajith Ram 4/30, Sonu Yav 4/50) vs Tamil Nu: 438. TN won by an innings and 125 runs.

Points: TN 7. Railways 0.