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The assembly line of genuine Indian quicks has only lengthened with the Indian Premier League giving them a great platform to put on a show. And young Mayank Yadav made it Saturday night fever here with express pace and bounce to match as Lucknow Supergiants beat Punjab Kings by 21 runs.
The home team had posted 199/8, but PBKS seemed on course when Super Giants threw on the 21-year-old in the 10th over. Yadav, who had impressed with 150 kph deliveries in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy this season, had been handed the cap for his IPL debut earlier in the evening and he rocked the batting at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
On a slow track where most of the bowlers struggled for swing and pace, Yadav mesmerised everyone with speed, crossing 155 kph on occasions. PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan (70 off 50 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (42) had added 102 in 11.4 overs, but Yadav sent the innings downhill from there.
“He surprised me with that pace. I was ready for it, but he bowled quite smart,” Dhawan said, acknowledging the impact the young fast bowler had. Yadav finished with 4-0-27-3.
Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma all fell reacting late to his pace and they were also beaten by the bounce Yadav extracted to be caught. LSG’s best-ever score of 199 on home turf while batting first was safe as PBKS were restricted to 178/5 in reply.
Making full use of the two-bouncer rule, Mayank as well as left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan rattled the PBKS batters with quick short balls, sharing five wickets. Khan (2/34) removed Dhawan and Sam Curran, ensuring the team’s first win of the season.
Dhawan and Bairstow stitched together 102 in just 70 balls. Things changed dramatically for PBKS when Ravi Bishnoi conceded just three runs in his first over and their hopes lay on Dhawan only. The required rate rose to 21 in the last four overs and LSG defended it well.
Earlier, it came as a surprise when vice-captain Nicholas Pooran came out for the toss as skipper KL Rahul chose not to keep wicket having come into IPl after recovering from a quadriceps injury.
Rahul, batting as an Impact Player, never looked at ease and was caught by Bairstow off Arshdeep Singh within the powerplay. His 15-ball innings had one boundary and one six after he survived an easy chance off Kasigo Rabada.
Unlike his first match of the new season against hosts Rajasthan Royals where he could make just four while opening the innings for the side, South African Quinton de Kock showed his might in style, hitting his 21st half-century in IPL.
De Kock hit 11 runs in Rabada’s first over. The left-hand batter struck a 38-ball 54 with five boundaries and two sixes, this on a red-soil pitch where the ball wasn’t coming on and batters were struggling to play their shots.
The quick departures of Rahul (15), Devdutt Padikkal (9) and Marcus Stoinis (19) by the half-way mark didn’t deter de Kock. He and Pooran stitched together 47 runs for the fourth wicket.
Pooran, who scored a half-century in the first game of the season, stroked a quickfire 42 in just 21 balls (4×4, 3×6) before being bowled by Rabada. Even after that, Krunal Pandya (43, 22b, 4×4, 2×6), kept the scoreboard ticking at a fast pace, helping LSG post a stiff total that was put way beyond PBKS by the young Yadav.
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