Ayush Badoni has had five seasons with Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League. Over the past 12 months, he has also featured regularly for India-A across formats. The opportunities are a reflection of his potential as a hard-hitting middle-order batter and a part-time off-spinner, but it hasn’t yet translated into match-defining performances.

The 26-year-old from Delhi admits he was subpar in the most recent IPL. Despite getting to bat higher up the order, his returns were a meagre 215 runs in 10 matches at an average of 21.5. It was followed by three outings for India-A in a 50-over tri-series involving Sri Lanka-A and Afghanistan-A in June, where his scores read 24, 0 and 15.

“Definitely, I feel I can perform better. The best is yet to come,” Badoni, who will lead South Delhi Superstarz in the third edition of the Delhi Premier League from Friday, told reporters at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.

Badoni’s floundering form during IPL 2026 was compounded by LSG’s wooden-spoon finish. “It is challenging to be consistent as a player when the team is losing matches. The motivation goes down. Next year, we will hope to make amends,” he said.

Badoni remains determined to turn things around, for he knows that the national selectors are taking note of his contributions. “Playing for India-A gives you exposure and boosts your confidence. The selectors have told me to focus on my consistency as much as possible and to keep working on my bowling,” informed Badoni.

England’s white-ball captain Harry Brook can be considered the best embodiment of Brendon McCullum’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach. The Kiwi’s sacking as England’s Test coach has visibly shaken Brook.

“He has played a massive part in my career,” Brook said after the six-wicket defeat to India in the first ODI in Birmingham.

“I have only ever played under him, and he has been awesome for me. The things he did for the Test side when he first came in, and in the last few years, have been phenomenal.”

By McCullum’s own admission, results weren’t good enough, with England having lost seven of its past nine Tests. Brook said it was understandable why McCullum — who is continuing as the ODI and T20I coach — said that he had let the team down.

“There is always that sense of letting the team down. Today [Tuesday] I felt that way after scoring just one run.

“You always feel like that when you know you didn’t play as well as you can. That is part of the game. You are in the results business and you have to win games.”

India’s Washington Sundar is one cricketer who has found similar backing from his coach Gautam Gambhir.

Washington, who is now an all-format cricketer, scored an unbeaten 52 off 63 balls in the first ODI versus England and was involved in a match-winning 102-run partnership with Axar Patel.

“Gauti bhai always made me understand what exactly I could do with the bat and in my game. Even Ashish Nehra at GT [Gujarat Titans] has helped me understand myself a lot as a person and a cricketer.

“The fact that I play different roles is exciting. Not many people get to do that. I try my best to help the team, and it is exciting to be in different situations and different phases of the game”.