Delhi-6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6: Best friends Priyansh Arya and Ayush Badoni are lighting up the Capital like never before
Stats, records, honours boards, Wikipedia and profiles will all tell you that Gautam Gambhir never scored a triple-century in senior cricket. They'll say the closest he came was during his 233 not out against Railways in the 2002 Ranji Trophy.
No one in Delhi or outside would be able to deny those records. Except for South Delhi Superstarz, the Delhi Premier League (DPL) franchise, which is second in the points table after six wins from nine games in the tournament's first season.
At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on the afternoon of August 31, in front of 35,000 seats, which were regretting being mostly vacant in Delhi's monsoon heat, two best friends in their early 20s helped the Superstarz put up 308 runs in a T20 game.
23-year-old Priyansh Arya scored a 50-ball 120, and his captain, Ayush Badoni, only 13 months older than him, smashed 165 runs in 55 balls against North Delhi Strikers. If DPL had official T20 status, their 286-run partnership and Superstarz's mammoth total would have been among the world records.
As the heat eased and thousands rushed in to catch the evening game between two new teams, the chatter remained focused on what happened hours ago. Not many knew that a lot of that was owed to Gambhir, who is now India men's head coach and has no relationship with the Superstarz or the DPL.
Priyansh Arya - a left-hander as sublime as he's brutal
Before he met Gambhir, Priyansh started his cricket like every other Delhi boy, for the joy of it, in the lanes of Ashok Vihar. Then, something clicked and he told his father that he wanted to pursue the sport more seriously.
Despite coming from a family where his parents and elder sister were from a teaching background, Priyansh faced no resistance or any pressure to focus on studies. He was eight years old when he first stepped into famed coach Sanjay Bhardwaj's academy at Bharat Nagar to form an association that continues to date.
"Sir (Bhardwaj) always believed that I was good enough," Priyansh told Sportskeeda in an interview on Monday. "Even when I was a kid, he used to make me play among the older guys, even in the nets and practice."
The kid was slender and the only shot he knew was driving over covers. Under Bhardwaj, who was one of the most influential coaches in Gambhir's life as well, he developed the strength, stability, range, and mentality to hit everything from ball one to 120, which now forms the basis of his cricket.
Good numbers in age-group cricket got him into India's under-19 circles and then to a T20 debut in 2021 for Delhi, where he has been opening the batting since.
He still has that shot over covers and used it against Washington Sundar on the first ball against Tamil Nadu in the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He didn't move an inch and with a beautiful flourish, the ball resigned into Dehradun's trees.
Even when Sundar beat him in the flight a couple of times, he kept tonking him and the rest of Tamil Nadu's IPL-level attack (Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Sen, T Natarajan)'s best balls on both sides of the ground to score 81 (47).
The next match was completely different, as another heavyweight side, Karnataka boasted one of the best pace attacks in the country with Prasidh Krishna, Vidwath Kaverappa, and Vijaykumar Vyshak, all breathing fire.
Prasidh drew a catch-able leading edge from him on the second ball of the innings but Priyansh responded with two delightful sixes -- a flick off the hips against a short ball and a backfoot punch over point, right off the middle of the bat. He got out for 51 (24) but not before putting Delhi in a comfortable position.
Delhi topped the table but crashed out in the knockouts as Priyansh ended the season as the leading scorer for the team with 222 runs at a strike rate of 166.91. Many batters got more chances and scored more runs but it was hard to find another with this kind of versatility and fearlessness in one package.
"I usually practice against the side-arm for pace, and also with the wet tennis ball because it comes off quickly," Priyansh said, explaining the story behind the picture.
"For spinners, I have always followed Gautam Gambhir because he plays them really well. When he used to come back to our nets, I used to stand behind him and try to follow. Sir also used to ask me to stand behind him and learn."
"Gautam bhaiya only was my idol. I used to love his attitude. I don’t talk to him now but when he used to come to the academy, sir used to make us meet him. Once, he was playing in the Ranji Trophy and I got named in the camp for the first time... I was just batting in the nets and he called me to say, 'I’ll bring you all the equipment tomorrow' and he gave me an entire kit and everything."
A DPL call-up was a formality after his heroics in SMAT. And his knocks for the Superstarz put the similarities between the two southpaws into the mainstream: the slightly opened middle-stump guard and the always pin-point footwork.
Priyansh showcased his power in the 12th over of the game against North Delhi by hitting six sixes in as many deliveries. Left-arm spinner Manan Bharadwaj, to his credit, tried every angle, line and length, but only saw the batter find the best possible answer, either with footwork or without.
Priyansh is now the highest run-scorer of the tournament with 576 runs in eight innings. He started with three back-to-back half-centuries, scored the first hundred of the tournament two games later, and another 80 before the rollicking 120.
"I wanted to make sure my first and last games were good because everyone remembers that," he said. "Then I wanted to hit the first century which I did. I didn’t think about hitting six sixes at all, it just happened!"
Priyansh was six when Yuvraj Singh did what he did to set the T20 marker for Indians in the 2007 T20 World Cup against England. He hazily remembers watching it on TV but didn't realize how big a deal it was until he was much older.
The impact of Priyansh's achievement would also need some time to be fully realized, especially with a mega IPL auction closing in. He said that although he's focused on the DPL, he wouldn't mind following the other angry young Delhite, Virat Kohli's footsteps to his favorite team, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
But, in what would be music to the ears of both Kohli and Gambhir, the youngster has not completely given himself up to the T20 ocean yet.
"I want to make my debut in the Ranji Trophy and play for Delhi," he said on his immediate aims. "I haven’t been able to do that for three years. I wasn’t consistent enough last year, I want to find consistency now. And IPL is always every player's focus. [But] I want to be a three-format player."
Ayush Badoni - Captain Cool (and fearless)
It was during a BCCI under-19 Challengers Trophy tournament that Priyansh and Ayush met each other. Since then, they have never left each other's peripherals.
"Since then, we have been room partners," Priyansh said. "He guides me when we bat together and it’s like, although he has a room of his own, he still comes and sleeps with me!"
Being the guide of the two is just one of many examples of how Ayush has always been a step quicker than others of his age. He, too, started cricket in the lanes as an excuse to stay out of home and away from studies.
But those around him were convinced he was too good for just that. His father, a documentary filmmaker, and his mother, a teacher, supported him in pursuing cricket professionally by getting him enrolled in the Sonnett Cricket Club at 10.
Under the legendary late Tarak Sinha and his son Devendra Sharma, Badoni worked on his cricketing basics. By 13 years of age, he was making the state's Under-14 teams, boosting his confidence in making a career out of sport.
The first major blow in his career came when he was ignored for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, which India won. That's when he knew he had to stand out.
"I was disappointed because it was a big platform," Ayush told Sportskeeda. "I noticed that the other players had a lot of shots but I was a bit limited in that sense. So I worked on my shots. I didn’t know how to play the sweep until I was playing Under-19. I worked a lot on it and now that I play it, it has helped my batting immensely. I scored a lot of runs after I developed that shot and got selected for the Under-19 Asia Cup."
He was the second-highest run-scorer in the youth Asia Cup, only behind Yashasvi Jaiswal, and scored a match-winning half-century in the final. But although runs came in spades, chances for Delhi didn't -- Ayush made his T20 debut in January 2021 but played in only four more games in the next two years.
So, when the young right-hander scored a 41-ball 54 for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), after the team was reeling at 29/4, on his IPL debut in 2022, he seemed to have dropped out of nowhere. This was the first half-century for an IPL debutant batting number six or below, and came with never-seen-before poise.
"The credit for that goes entirely to Gautam Gambhir and Vijay Dahiya," Ayush said. "They used to watch me play. Both have played for Delhi and Vijay Dahiya has been Delhi’s coach as well. They selected me for LSG and backed me."
After going unsold for three years, Ayush was signed for his base price of ₹20 lakhs and vindicated the decision with two fifties in the practice games. Gambhir gave him the best advice anyone can give to a youngster -- show your natural game and leave "playing according to the situation" to seniors.
He didn't disappoint, playing many a crucial cameo as the youngest player in the finisher role in the league for two years. In 2024, the franchise, under the new management led by Justin Langer, pushed him higher up the order and he continued the good run with 235 runs at a strike rate of 137.43.
"I have always been very flexible with my batting order," he said. "My batting position has always changed according to the team’s requirements and I have never minded that. I even told (LSG captain) KL Rahul the same thing that I am happy with whatever batting position I’ll contribute in that."
Now, he's enjoying batting at number three for the Superstarz, especially because coming in the powerplay allows him to take risks and get off to quick starts. Against North Delhi, his still-hardly-believable 165 was laced with 19 sixes, which, again, would have been a massive addition to the record books.
Captaincy at the Superstarz was a no-brainer thanks to his IPL stature. He describes his style as "fearless" and feels it is bringing out the best in him.
"I have learned to be cool and calm from KL Rahul on the field. I have been applying that as well. I love captaincy because I love the responsibility and batting under pressure. I love it."
And what better than going through the highs and lows with his roommate at the other end?
"I love batting with him because it’s a right-left combination and we complement each other. We are both aggressive and play well together, scoring a lot of runs which is fun."
Delhi hasn't had a right-left combination at the highest level since the two men who now have their names embellishing a gate and a stand at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Since then, it has only been one bad news after another for Delhi cricket. But DPL has perhaps offered a new ray of light (Both Priyansh and Ayush can bowl too!).
It has a proper T20 color but it's rooted in the Capital's culture of deft footwork, disregard for off-spinners, domination with the wrists, fearlessness and a love for red-ball cricket. It is still Delhi-6 but with a lot more fours and sixes.