Mayank Yadav Earns ‘Rolls Royce’ Status at LSG, Proclaims Lucknow Super Giants Fielding Coach Jonty Rhodes

New Delhi: Former South African cricketer and Lucknow Super Giants fielding coach Jonty Rhodes has dubbed Mayank Yadav as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of LSG. The talented Delhi pacer made headlines with his lightning-speed deliveries during the IPL 2024 season. Yadav's remarkable delivery clocked in at 156.7 km/h against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), making it the fastest in IPL history. Unfortunately, his impressive stint in IPL 2024 was cut short due to a side strain, which was later diagnosed as lower abdomen soreness.

Earlier, Yadav missed IPL 2023 and Ranji Trophy 2023-24 entirely because of injury. Since then, the youngster has been rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and is targeting a full comeback in the Duleep Trophy. The 22-year-old made rapid strides in his recovery under the care of the NCA’s physios and doctors.

“I’m not a bowling coach, but Morne Morkel, during the previous season, when Mayank got injured at the start of the preparation, literally said, ‘Wow, this guy (Mayank Yadav), he’s like the Rolls Royce of bowlers,” Rhodes said on the sidelines of an event.

“He had a whole season with the team and that’s why the owners decided to keep him with the team, he did all his rehab throughout the IPL and stayed a part of the unit because we really believe that he is a young guy with extreme talent and we saw him in the games that he played and everybody was really monitoring him not wrapping him in cotton wool,” he added.

Coming from Delhi’s Sonnet Cricket Club, Yadav gained the attention of the cricket fraternity with his raw pace during his debut against Punjab Kings. The right-arm pacer continuously bowled above 145 and returned with a figure of 3/27 with a top speed of 155.8 km/h. In the four matches for LSG, Yadav picked seven wickets at an economy of 6.99.

Rhodes warned that Yadav should not become the next Umran Malik who burst onto the scene with huge expectations before fading out. “But monitoring his workload and understanding that he is a guy that doesn’t need to bowl 30 minutes every day in the nets, he just needs to top up to make sure that he from a mental and emotional point of view feels that he’s ready because he is raw talent.

“We saw what happened with Umran Malik who burst onto the scenes at the sheer pace we all got excited, but you know the question is can the player bowl to the game plan that’s because they’re bowling some of the best batters in the world and sometimes on really good surfaces so if you’ve just got pace and you can’t bowl in good areas or with good skill, the better players will hit you out the ground,” said Rhodes.

“So I think from a point of view where LSG haven’t worried about or haven’t gone, let’s wrap him in cotton wool, because then he comes to the game, you never know what’s going to happen. But the preparation is key and hopefully, you know, through the season when the off-season and now the season again by the time he comes to IPL and if he’s playing with LSG again or even if he’s not playing for LSG I just hope Mayank is bowling and is fit for the whole IPL because there’s a talent that is exciting,” he concluded.