Ian Bishop rushed to Mayank Yadav’s defence after the Lucknow Super Giants pacer received criticism and trolling on his return to action after a 353-day injury-related hiatus. Last season, the 23-year-old played only two games before suffering a back injury. He didn’t play a professional game since then, making his comeback on Wednesday against Rajasthan Royals.
Although his pace was still there and he breached the 150kph mark, his spell against RR proved to be expensive as he also leaked 20 runs in the final over of the first innings. He finished with figures of 0/56 (4), with an economy of 14.00, the most expensive among his teammates.
In the final over, Mayank was up against Ravindra Jadeja, on strike, with RR at 139/6. Meanwhile, Shubham Dubey was at the non-striker’s end. He began with a slower delivery, and Jadeja smacked it through midwicket for a four, followed by a double to retain strike. Then in the third ball, Jadeja went on the back foot to carve a slow delivery straight off mid-off for another four.
In the next two deliveries, the all-rounder took back-to-back doubles to retain strike. Then, in the final ball, Mayank banged it short, and Jadeja pulled it high over deep backward square leg for a six as RR finished on 159/6 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, the former CSK player remained unbeaten at 43* off 29 balls.
Mayank’s young career has been full of promises, but also riddled with setbacks. He made a sensational debut in 2024, and in his debut game, he clocked 155.8kph, which raised expectations. In IPL 2024, he took 7 wickets in 4 games and was also selected for the T20I series against Bangladesh. He took four wickets in three games at an economy rate of 6.91.
But constant injuries always saw him having to take a step up. After playing for India, he once again injured himself and then suffered another back injury, which forced him to miss the first half of IPL 2025. That season, he played only two games before a back injury hit him again.