No slower ones: Mayank Yadav reveals captain Pooran’s message after rattling Punjab

Lucknow’s Mayank Yadav burst onto the scene in their Indian Premier League match vs Punjab on Saturday, March 30.

Mayank bowled the fastest ball of the tournament so far, clocking 155.8 KMPH in his second over. Not only did Mayank bowled the fastest ball of the tournament so far, he picked up 3 wickets, derailing Punjab’s chase of 200 runs in the second innings of the game.

Speaking at the post match presentation, Mayank revealed the message that he got from his captain Nicholas Pooran. Pooran captained LSG on the day after KL Rahul was used as an impact player for their first home game against Punjab. Mayank revealed that Pooran told him to not bowl any slower deliveries and instead crank the heat up against the Punjab batters, who were 102/0 in the 12th over of the game.

“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 Yadav said after the conclusion of the match at the Ekana Stadium on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Mayank rattled seasoned batter Jonny Bairstow with his pace. Bairstow failed to connect bat to ball on several occasions and looked visibly flustered against the uncapped Indian pacer. Mayank revealed that it was Bairstow’s wicket which was his favourite and said that he was happy with his performance.

“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 the win, LSG are 5th in the league table with 2 points from 2 games to their name.