Mayank Yadav rose to prominence when he bowled the fastest delivery by an Indian in IPL 2024 playing for Lucknow Super Giants, soon after he was hit by injuries. But after rehab at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, Mayank is raring to make a fresh start at LSG in IPL 2026.
Mayank revealed that he paid little attention to his body earlier but post-surgery he has had a different approach.
“Everything has changed for me post-surgery. Earlier, I never used to take care of myself. Whenever I had to do a recovery session, I used to avoid it and neglect many aspects. But after the surgery, I paid a lot of attention to recovery, nutrition and sleep. The more I respect my body, the more my body respects me on the field,” Mayank said while speaking on JioStar’s ‘IPL Today Live’.
He also gives credit to Jasprit Bumrah in guiding him during the recovery process at the National Cricket Academy.
“When I was in rehab at the NCA, Bumrah bhaiya was also there. I have a very good bond with him. He is like a teacher to me. He also had the same surgery, the same scenario,” he said.
“Bumrah bhaiya shared his experience of how to come back after surgery and what things to pay attention to. He told me how the body will be during recovery, how it will react. Sometimes it will feel good, sometimes not. Whenever we talk on the call or messages, he shares his experience as much as possible,” added Mayank.
Mayank was unaware of his special talent until he arrived in IPL where during the practice sessions, the support staff would measure his bowling speed. That is when Mayank realised that he too can bowl real quick.
“When I came to the IPL for the first time, our trainers used to measure our bowling speed with a speed gun. At that time, I came to know that I have this talent, I have this gift. So now I have to respect it,” Mayank said.
“With fast bowling, things are always a little dicey, whether you can do it or not. There is a lot of stress on the body, physically and mentally.”
Going back to his early days, Mayank reveals that as a kid he loved to bowl fast while playing street cricket.
“When I used to play in the streets, I didn’t know how to bowl spin, so I used to bowl only fast bowling. My craze for fast bowling began in childhood. My father also used to show me a lot of fast bowling videos.
“Mostly, when India used to play in South Africa, I used to watch a lot of those matches. I really liked two of their pacers, our current bowling coach, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn. Through them, I got the craze to bowl fast,” he added.
