For 21-year-old Mayank Yadav, it was a dream come true when he was handed his maiden IPL cap on March 30 (Saturday). At such a young age and on such a massive platform under the glaring lights, Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) Mayank Yadav showed out. Unfazed by the occasion, the right-arm pacer delivered one of the most fascinating spells on debut by any bowler in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
While his match-winning spell of 3/27 in four overs was fully recognised and the pacer was bestowed with the Man of the Match award, it was Mayank Yadav's thunderbolts that made Punjab Kings' batters uncomfortable and kept the audience at the edge of their seats.
9 balls over 150 kmph
The speed at which the ball came out of Mayank's arms was like the ammunition coming out of a howitzer. It was searing fast, so much so that, seasoned batters like Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow were forced to jump around their crease, rattled by the young paceman's thunderbolts.
In the 24 balls Mayank bowled on Saturday, nine of those were in access of 150 kmph while his slowest delivery was 141 kmph. For an Indian pacer to crack such immense was a sight to behold. Talking about Mayank Yadav's fastest delivery, the 21-year-old delivered a 155.8 kmph thunderbolt to Dhawan and all the batter could do was shy away from his stumps and see the ball flying past his outside edge before thumping into wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock's gloves.
Watch the video of Mayank Yadav's spell against PBKS:
The 21-year-old pacer dismissed Jonny Bairstow with a 144 kmph delivery and followed it up with Prabhsimran Singh's wicket from a delivery that was bowled at 147 kmph. Jitesh Sharma was Mayank's third wicket and it came off a ball bowled at 142 kmph.
Moving forward, whenever the Lucknow Super Giants will take the field, all eyes will be on Mayank Yadav because raw pace in extremely rare in world cricket and more so in Indian cricket.
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