Mayank Yadav conceded runs at a high economy rate of 14.00 in his maiden IPL 2026 match.
Mayank Yadav, the pace sensation of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), finally made a return to the IPL 2026 action last night against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. But unfortunately, his first appearance in the league, following a long injury layoff, turned out to be an underwhelming outing.
Featuring in his maiden fixture of the IPL 2026, Mayank not only failed to snare a wicket but also gave away a total of 56 runs in four overs. The disastrous show came on a night when the entire LSG bowling attack had put up a great effort, conceding less than eight runs per over in front of a swashbuckling RR line-up. Following this, the 23-year-old received harsh criticisms from the spectators on various social media platforms.
Star former Caribbean player-turned-commentator Ian Bishop has come forward in support of the youngster to slam the trolls. He took to the micro-blogging platform X (formerly Twitter) to share how the seamer battled a career-threatening injury to make his way back into the field. Bishop was surprised to witness Mayank once again bowl at 150kph and urged the fans to back the player.
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Earlier, the bowler had made the headlines with a fierce pace on display during his debut appearance in the IPL 2024. He enjoyed a stunning first season, bagging seven scalps in four matches at an impressive economy rate of 6.98. Moreover, Mayank crossed the 155kph mark twice to enter the list of top-10 fastest deliveries ever bowled in the history of the league.
But a persistent back injury affected his second IPL season, as Mayank managed to play in just two matches of the previous edition, scalping as many wickets. However, even after his multiple injury occurrences in a short span of time, LSG had shown their faith in the youngster, retaining him for a massive amount of INR 11 crore before the IPL 2026 mini auction.
Following his lower back surgery, Mayank was part of the India A squad that took on the USA and Namibia, respectively, for two warm-up matches ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. Notably, after a dismal show on return, the bowler had registered a commendable comeback with the figure of 2/17 in the subsequent clash.
The fans and the LSG squad will hope for a similar turnaround from Mayank in their upcoming fixtures as they look to put an end to their four-match losing streak in the IPL 2026.
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