IPL 2024: 'I have always loved rockets, flight, and everything that has speed,' says LSG pacer Mayank Yadav

Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) debutant Mayank Yadav on Saturday recorded the fastest delivery of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 20204 season when he clocked 155.8 KMPH in the speedometer against Punjab Kings, here.

Yadav's debut in the IPL 2024 was indeed memorable, as he showcased his pace and talent to help Lucknow secure their first win of the season. With impressive figures of 3 for 27 in his four overs, Mayank's performance was exceptional, earning him the Player-of-the-Match award.

The standout moment for Mayank came when he clocked 155.8kph, delivering the fastest ball of the 2024 season thus far. His aggressive pace and accuracy rattled the Punjab Kings' batting lineup, turning the tide of the match in Lucknow's favor.

Reflecting on his debut, Mayank expressed gratitude for the opportunity and credited his teammates for their support and advice. Despite some initial nerves, he found his rhythm early in the game and executed his bowling plans effectively.

"I didn't really think it (my debut) would go that well. I have heard from the others that there can be nervousness on debut. But after the first ball, all my nervousness went away," Mayank said at the post-match presentation. "Everyone said to not take too much pressure, just bowl on the stumps, and use the pace. That's what I did."

Mayank surprised everyone by throwing the very first ball of his spell at a speed of 147 km/h. Taking the tenth over of the innings, Mayank hit a yorker to Jonny Bairstow on the very first ball and then bowled the third ball of this over at a speed of 150 and showed that he has a wealth of speed. Mayank continuously crossed the pace of 145 in the first over and it seemed that India had got another pace king.

Generally, Indian fast bowlers are not expected to bowl at such a high pace consistently, but Mayank showed in the very first IPL match that he has the ability to bowl at a good pace consistently.

Mayank crossed the mark of 155 in his second over and also got the wicket of Prabhsimran Singh. Prabhsimran, who went to pull a short pitched ball bowled at a speed of 147, was beaten at full speed and the ball did not hit the bat properly as his catch was taken at mid-on was by Naveen Ul Haq.

"I thought I might need to use the slower ball, but there was help from the wicket, the captain (Nicholas Pooran) said to just go with the pace," Mayank said. "The debut wicket was my favourite."

Talking about Mayank's career, he plays domestic cricket for Delhi and has played only one first class match so far. Mayank has played 17 List-A and 10 T20 matches. Mayank has 34 wickets to his name in List-A and his economy is also 5.35. In T20, Mayank has taken 12 wickets with an excellent economy of 6.44.

Mayank, had performed well in the under-23 CK Nayudu Trophy 2023 and took 15 wickets in six matches out of which five wickets came in a single match against Chhattisgarh and apart from this, he also contributed 66 runs with the bat. Mayank also performed effectively in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023-24 and had taken five wickets in four matches of the tournament and his economy here was less than 6.5. Apart from this, he also took six wickets in five matches in Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir had signed Mayank for his base price of Rs 20 lakh at the mega auction in 2022 while he was at LSG. Mayank sustained a back injury in the IPL 2023, and Himachal Pradesh speedster Arpit Guleria took his place in the team. When Mayank was fit enough to play in the 50-over Deodhar Trophy match, he was sent straight to the North Zone side. He recently competed in the Mumbai DY Patil competition as well.

“I only try to bowl with the pace and give a few runs for the team and hopefully today it was the day. I am thrilled by the pace, I have always loved that from my childhood. I have always loved rockets, flight and everything that has speed, so from my childhood days I had the thing in my mind to make my life around these things and hopefully it came as a pace bowler. Dale Steyn is my idol and I have always looked to him as my guarding angel. I just want to bowl how he used to bowl with raw intention and pace. Working with an LSG mentor and bowling coach helped me a lot to shape my bowling and bowl on the hard length with pace. Skipper Nicholas Pooran, too, was pushing me to bowl with pace after I delivered the first over with a good pace,” said Mayank in the post-match press conference.

Talking about his journey in the IPL, Mayank highlighted how he got picked in the IPL auction 2022 and never thought of making debut at this small age.

“I was playing for Delhi against Uttar Pradesh in Vijay Hazare back in 2021 just before the auction and after the match my assistant coach asked me for some of my bowling videos. He was the one who was in talk with Gautam Gambhir and from there I got picked by LSG.”