156.7 km per hour Pacer Mayank Yadav’s spark controversy: “Swelling ignored, tickled boxes …”

Lucknow Super Giants Pace Sensation Mayank Yadav was dropped from IPL 2025 after taking another injury. Mayank, who grabbed Spotlight after a delivery of 156.7 kmph during IPL 2024, missed the first half of the new season due to injury. He played 2 games for Lucknow super veterans after his comeback, but was refused once again. According to a report by the Times of India, an official accused the LSG of ignoring his ‘back swelling’ and running back after an initial injury.

The official said the Center of Excellence (COE) and the franchise did not follow the fixed procedure while handling the pacery injury and were only ‘tik boxing’ in their case.

“For a bowler, who was such a long absence from the game, it is surprising that the COE took only 10-12 sessions to indicate a green color. One third of those sessions were at low intensity and he started bowling only at the end of March at 80–85%,” the official told India’s Times.

“You only get a true picture when you work on full inclination and then take enough time to assess how the body is responding to the increased charge. That charge is slowly inspected and extended to assess how the body is reacting to various levels of intensity. With Mayank, it seemed that the box was tickled,” said the official.

Mayank played two games for LSG where he returned with 2/40 and 0/60 figures. However, he was unable to continue as LSG signed New Zealand’s Will O’Rurke as his temporary replacement.

“There was a discussion in LSG about this. Mayank was asked about his decline in speed and non-match-day activities. He told him that he was giving his best, but could not go beyond this and for non-matching day workload, he informed him about his routine that has been running since rehabilitation in Koa.