Growing up, Ayush Badoni regularly faced throwdowns from his father Vivek on the cement pitch set up on the rooftop of their Delhi home.

Years later, Badoni’s transformation on the senior circuit has all the makings of a fine script. Not the kind his father, a documentary filmmaker, is adept at, but a one that takes the audience through the protagonist’s world of see-sawing emotions; talent, rejection, rise, more despair, before the eventual comeback.

Badoni, 26, has nearly experienced the whole spectrum. He has felt the sting of rejection at every level. Once an India U-19 star, he waited four years for a senior debut, caught in the unending chaos that is Delhi cricket selections. He burst onto the Indian Premier League ( IPL ) spotlight with some sizzling cameos four years ago, but hasn’t owned the stage.

A regular for India A side until the Sri Lanka tour in August, the omission from the home series against Australia and the ongoing tour of New Zealand, though, has unlocked a new avatar.…