Mayank Yadav troubled the PBKS batters with his raw pace.
Playing for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Mayank wreaked havoc on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) batting line-up. The right-arm quick didn’t only bowl the fastest ball of the tournament so far, clocking 155.8 KMPH in his second over, he returned with the figures of 3/27 four overs.
Speaking at the post match presentation, Mayank revealed the message he got from his stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran, saying that the latter told him to not bowl any slower deliveries and instead crank the heat up against the Punjab batters.
Notably, Pooran led LSG on the day after KL Rahul was used as an impact player for their first home game of the IPL 2024 season.
"I didn't think that my debut was going to be this good. I have heard from everyone that there is nervousness but after bowling the first ball, the nerves settled. Everyone told me to bowl on the stumps and use the pace. At first, I thought that I would need to bowl a lot more slower balls but after the wicket assisted me, my captain told me to only bowl fast," Mayank said after scripting LSG’s 21-run victory over PBKS.
Mayank, 21, rattled seasoned campaigner Jonny Bairstow with his pace. Bairstow failed to connect bat to ball on quite a few occasions and looked visibly flustered against the debutant.
Mayank termed Bairstow's wicket as his favourite among the three, which included dismissals of Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma.
"My favourite wicket was my first one (Jonny Bairstow). I had kept my goals that I would make my debut at a young age. But that wasn't the case. But happy with my performance tonight," Mayank concluded.
With this victory, LSG moved to the fifth spot in the league table with two points from two games to their name. They will next face RCB in Bengaluru on April 2.