Mayank Yadav, a pacer for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), has lit up the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) with his incredible bowling. His rapid deliveries, averaging over 150 kmph, have gained Lucknow some great victory in the current campaign.
Mayank picked up three wickets each in his first two matches against PBKS and RCB to help LSG get the win. However, most notably he clocked 155.8 kph against PBKS and bettered it against RCB, as he bowled a ball clocking at 156.7 kph in the match.
He won the Player of the Match award in both of his first two matches and his parents are 100% sure that the Delhi pacer will play for the Indian team very soon.
"Yes, it is in my mind, 100 percent. I hope he makes his debut for India and does well. But more than me, his dad is 100 percent sure. Right now, people are saying he should be playing for India. But from the last two years, his father has been saying that if he wasn't injured, he would have gone for the upcoming T20 World Cup," said Mayank's mom in an interview with Aaj Tak.
Mayank's father would say that he knew that the pacer would end up being a cricketer when he was just 12 years old and he has been behind that goal ever since.
"100 percent sure he is going to make his debut. When he was 12 years old, I knew he was going to be a cricketer. I was behind that goal. When he got his trial in the 14 age group, I knew then that he was ahead of everyone. So, we worked according to that and he did his part as well. He never disobeyed my instructions, and when he turned 16, he had more power and became more mature," said Mayank's dad.
When asked about the little speedster's food habits, his mother, Mamta Yadav, stated that he had become vegetarian in recent years. Previously, he ate non-vegetarian foods.
"Mayank has just turned vegetarian. Earlier, he used to eat non-veg food. He has been eating vegetarian food for the last 2 years. Whatever he has been asking us to make, based on his diet chart, we would make for him. He wouldn't eat anything special, dal, roti, rice, milk, veggies, etc," Mayank's mother Mamta said.
While Mayank's mother is unsure why the cricketer stopped eating non-vegetarian foods, she has offered two possible reasons. The first reason was his conviction in Lord Krishna, and the second was that he thought a non-vegetarian diet no longer suited his physique.
"He said that non-veg food wasn't suiting his body much. He told us about two reasons. First, he started to believe in Lord Krishna, which could be one of the reasons too. We didn't force him to reveal why he quit non-veg food. He said whatever I was doing, was good for his game and his body," Mayank's mother revealed.
(Aaj Tak/ANI inputs)
