Hemang Kamal Badani – the stylish left hander from Tamil Nadu, has played some neat knocks for India ever since he made his ODI debut in the Asia Cup 2000 at Bangladesh. Hemang got into International Cricket after a scintillating 170 against a Mumbai attack which had Ajit Agarkar and Abey Kuruvilla in the Ranji Trophy Semi Finals in 1999-2000. Following this, he was picked in the Indian Squad for the Asia Cup 2000 in Bangladesh.
Badani made his debut in India’s first match of the Cup against Bangladesh at the Banghabandhu Stadium, Dhaka. After Bangladesh made 249, Indian Skipper Saurav Ganguly took a brave decision in sending the young rookie at No.3. Hemang played a polished knock of 35 off 51 balls with some exquisite drives, but unfortunately for the young man, he had no place in the 11 after that game. He had to compete for a middle order berth which was packed with the likes of Dravid, Azhar, Jadeja and Robin Singh.
However, with the exit of Azhar and Jadeja owing to the Match Fixing Saga, it opened the door for some fresh talent in the Indian team including Badani, Yuvraj, Sodhi, Sriram and others. A stroke filled hundred at Pune against a strong Aussie attack proved his class at the highest level. Hemang has a wide range of shots from cover drives, straight drives, cuts and pulls, flicks and sweep. Though his critics feel his footwork isn’t special, nobody complains about his exquisite timing and the punch in his shots, except may be the bowlers. After a poor run in the four overseas tests he played and in the home series against England, he was not in the team for 2 years, until the TVS Cup in 2003 following his good performances in the Challenger Series, A tours and series. Badani is now heading towards Pakistan after a close race with Rohan Gavaskar. Hemang Badani, overall can be described as a cool and composed middle order batsman, who can keep the tempo running with his sweetly timed shots and his quick running between the wickets. He is also a good fielder, especially a very smart outfielder.
Badani is only 27 years now and he has age on his side to become a stable middle order batsman for India.