One bowler in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 is setting new standards with his raw speed. Mayank Yadav, a 21-year-old fast bowler for the Lucknow Super Giants, bowled so fiercely in their recent match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium that it left Glenn Maxwell and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in disbelief.
Yadav was the star of the show, his velocity and accuracy sending the RCB hitters reeling. RCB lost the match by 28 runs after being bowled out for 153 runs while chasing a total of 181/5. This was due to the young cricketer’s pace. With his final stats of 3/14, Yadav also earned his second player of the match award of the season in consecutive games.
You can’t see it, but he really has some extra speed. Glenn Maxwell
One of Mayank’s three victims, along with Cameron Green and Rajat Patidar, was Maxwell, one of the best all-rounders in cricket history. The Australian acknowledged that the teenage bowler’s sheer velocity had taken him by surprise.
He hurried on a couple of the Punjab batters, and I had done my homework before facing him, so I thought it was very amazing. But until you see the assignment going out of hand and have to try to pick up the length, it’s nothing to do homework against someone, Maxwell said, according to ESPNcricinfo.
“He has some serious extra speed that is uncommon in today’s global cricket scene. Guys bowl in the upper 140s [kph] range or in the 140s very routinely. But it’s really intimidating to always have mid-150s in your arsenal,” he continued.
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Glenn Maxwell found it difficult to keep up with Mayank’s pace, which he compared to that of the great Shaun Tait at his peak. Mayank’s pace simply outran him. “He [Mayank] kind of flowed through the crease nicely; it’s such a wonderful, fluid action. I believe that the only person whose pace I can somewhat compare it to is Shaun Tait during his prime,” he remarked.
Having hit two balls at speeds exceeding 150 kph, he successfully bounced out Maxwell and trapped Green, putting the RCB on the defensive. Yadav has been in the news lately for his exploits, and a number of analysts and former cricketers have suggested that selectors consider him in India’s squad for the June T20 World Cup.
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