Mayank Yadav's Explosive Debut Propels Lucknow Super Giants to Victory in IPL Clash
Young speedster's blistering bowling performance leads to Punjab Kings' downfall
India's newest speed prodigy, Mayank Yadav, was born on Saturday during the IPL. At the Ekana International Stadium in Lucknow, the 21-year-old speedster had an explosive start by bowling extremely quickly, so fast that he rattled the Punjab Kings and helped the Lucknow Super Giants win by 21 runs, their first victory of the season.
In addition to Mayank's three wickets, Quinton de Kock, Krunal Pandya, and Nicholas Pooran, the acting captain, also contributed for Lucknow.
The Kings have lost their previous two straight games.
How quickly did Mayank move? An image posted on X details the debut of the Man of the Match, who played with lightning speedThe Tycoon
The Kings bowlers, who struggled against RCB the other evening, let up as many as 111 runs in the last 10 overs on Saturday, allowing the Super Giants to score a commanding 199/8 after choosing to bat first.
The Kings got off to the ideal start with to captain Shikhar Dhawan (70 off 50) and Jonny Bairstow (42 off 29), who stitched up 102 in their first partnership at nine an over. The Mayank show then started.
The 21-year-old New Delhi-born player used the short-pitched ball to great effect, hitting a top speed of 140 kmph on several occasions and hitting a one-time high of 156.8 kmph. Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh (Impact Player for pacer Arshdeep Singh), and keeper-batter Jitesh Sharma were all defeated by the extra velocity. The three Kings batters attempted to pull off Mayank's short stuff, but all they accomplished was give the Super Giants fielders practice catching.
After falling from 102/0 to 139/3 in the 16th over, Lucknow took control with to a few of wickets from left-arm bowler Mohsin Khan, who removed Dhawan and all-rounder Sam Curran, who had performed well with the ball (3/28), in quick succession. Liam Livingstone's hamstring injury, which he suffered while fielding, made things worse for Punjab even more since he was unable to bat before the third wicket fell.
The Lucknow surface seemed much better for strokeplay, despite being highly dangerous during the IPL and the ODI World Cup last year. This adds to the specialness of Mayank's spell, which is her debut.
Earlier, KL Rahul scored 15 before being gently dismissed by Arshdeep. Rahul did not play as Lucknow captain and was substituted by Impact Player Naveen-ul Haq as part of his workload management. However, Quinton, his opening partner, top-scored with 54 off 38 balls, while spinning all-rounder Krunal (43 not out off 22 balls) along with Pooran (42 off 21 balls) also contributed to Punjab's 200-run objective.
Willey for Henry
The LSG team announced on Saturday included New Zealand fast Matt Henry in lieu of England seamer all-rounder David Willey, who withdrew from the IPL for personal reasons.
