Badrinath represented India A before his debut with the Indian cricket team.[6] Badrinath was named in the provisional 30-man squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and 2009 ICC World Twenty20 but did not make it to the final squad on both the occasions.[7] In August 2008, Badrinath made his ODI debut for India against Sri Lanka in the second ODI at Dambulla during the Indian tour of Sri Lanka. He scored an unbeaten 27 to guide India to victory.[8] In February 2010, Badrinath made his test debut against South Africa at the age of 29. He scored a fifty on debut in the match at VCA Stadium in Nagpur.[9] He was also part of the team that played the second test match in the series played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. India won the match but Badrinath scored a single run in the only innings which turned out to be the last of his short test career.[10] While he was called up to the test squad as a replacement for the retired V. V. S. Laxman to play New Zealand during the tour of India in 2012, he did not make it to the playing eleven.[11]
Badrinath made his debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2000–01 season and was a prolific scorer in first class cricket scoring more than ten thousand runs with 32 centuries.[15][16] Badrinath reached the finals of Ranji Trophy three times with Tamil Nadu in the 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2011-12 seasons.[17] Badrinath was the second highest run scorer with 636 runs in the 2005-06 Ranji Trophy and had the most prolific season in 2007-08 when he scored 659 runs at 65.90.[15] He was also part of the team that won the domestic one day cup two times in 2002-03 and 2004–05 and the Vijay Hazare Trophy during the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons.[18][19] Badrinath also represented South Zone while also captaining the side.[20]
In 2014, after representing Tamil Nadu for over 14 years, he moved to represent Vidarbha for the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy due to limited playing opportunities with Tamil Nadu.[21] He was appointed captain of the Vidarbha side, leading them to the quarter finals where they lost to Tamil Nadu.[22] In the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, Vidarbha again reached the quarter finals before losing to Saurashtra.[23] Badrinath moved on to Hyderabad cricket team for the 2016-17 season, where he was again appointed captain.[24] He led the side to the quarter finals in the Ranji trophy before falling for the third consecutive year, losing to Mumbai.[25] In August 2018, he retired from all forms of cricket.[26][27]
IPL
Before the inaugural season, Badrinath was signed by the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2008.[28][29] Badrinath made his debut for the Chennai Super Kings during the 2008 season and was a reliable middle order batsman, representing the team for six consecutive seasons till 2013.[30] His break through season came in 2011 when he scored 356 runs to help Chennai win their second consecutive IPL title.[31][32] Badrinath won two IPL titles in 2010 and 2011 along with a Champions League Twenty20 title in 2010 with Chennai Super Kings.[33][34] Badrinath scored 1441 runs across six seasons at an average of just above 30.[30]