Lucknow Super Giants bowling coach Morne Morkel, on Saturday, said young Mayank Yadav generated some serious and disconcerting pace, which was a pleasing sight for the side as it aims to go the distance in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024).
The 21-year-old Mayank bowled at a very good pace, with most of his deliveries clocking upwards of 150 as he got rid of dangerous opener Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma at a time when it seemed Punjab Kings would be the runaway winner here.
Chasing 200 for victory, PBKS’ innings faltered despite Shikhar Dhawan (70) and Bairstow (42) putting up a century partnership thanks to the right-arm pacer’s willingness to give it his all.
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Mayank, playing his maiden IPL game, returned miserly figures of 3/27 in his four overs, which broke the back of the PBKS’ chase.
“Young Mayank bowled serious heat and got the wickets. It was tough last year, as he got injured after the first warm-up game. We’re managing him better. He ran in, and that was the pleasing thing,” said Morkel, a former South African pace-bowling star.
“We asked the guys to do the basics well on a good wicket. [I] told him to stick to his lengths and use bouncers. Proud he ran in and bowled gas despite the humidity. How the wicket would play was an unknown, we had to sum up conditions and use them.”
Player of the Match Mayank said he wasn’t nervous playing his first IPL game, adding that he just did what his seniors told him to do.
“I’ve always heard from others there’s nervousness in debuts, but that goes away after the first ball. The plan was to not be under too much pressure and to bowl at the stumps and use the pace as much as possible.
“There was the thought to mix up the pace initially, but the wicket helped and the skipper told me to bowl gas. The debut wicket was the favourite. Coming off the injury last season was tough, I’d set my goal to debut at a young age but injuries were a setback,” added Mayank.
Shikhar said Liam Livingstone getting injured put a spanner in PBKS’ works even as he admitted Mayank’s pace “outsmarted” his side.
“They (LSG) played well, Livi got injured, which impacted us. He’d have come in at 4. Mayank bowled really well. His pace outsmarted us.
“It was nice facing him, surprised me with that pace. [I] knew as an experienced player I’d use it. But he figured it out and bowled yorkers to keep me down to a dot and a single. I was mindful and told my partners to use the short side.
“He bowled at Prabh’s body and got him out. Told Jitesh to leave Mayank and take on the other bowlers, but they bowled well too and then used the pressure against us,” said Dhawan.
