India's 2007 World Cup winner questions Ayush Badoni's inclusion for ODIs against New Zealand

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has questioned the decision to include Ayush Badoni in the ODI series against New Zealand. The Delhi all-rounder has joined the squad as a replacement for Washington Sundar, who was ruled out of the two ODIs of the three-match series due to injury.

Uthappa on Badoni's selection

Ahead of the third ODI, Uthappa, who was part of India's 2007 T20 World Cup squad, expressed disappointment over Badoni's call-up during a discussion with Irfan Pathan on his YouTube channel.

“I didn’t understand it at all. I absolutely couldn’t make sense of it. It was completely out of left field. I even went and checked his scores in the recent past, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and this one as well. I think he is a high-potential player, but I don’t know if he is India-ready yet.”

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Irfan Pathan on Badoni's selection

Irfan Pathan also believes that Badoni has played some decent innings for Delhi and India A, but he is yet to make a big impact in domestic cricket. Pathan reckons that he might be included because the selectors probably thought that he could bowl a bit and bat down the order.

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“I was a bit surprised, honestly. I was a bit surprised. Guys like Ayush Badoni have not done that well, right? I mean, he hasn’t exactly set domestic cricket on fire. It hasn’t really happened like that. He had three decent scores against South Africa A and Australia A, and then in the Vijay Hazare Trophy he picked up four wickets in three games. So they probably thought that he could bowl a bit and bat down the order. But yes, it was a surprise. It really was a surprise.”

Notably, Badoni, who was included in the squad, was unable to feature in the second ODI where New Zealand defeated India by seven wickets to level the series.

Ayush Badoni List A Record

Badoni has played 27 List A games where he amassed 693 runs at an average of 36.47 with a strike rate of 93.27, including one century and five half-centuries. He picked up 17 wickets