Almost one-third of the Indian Premier League 2024 season is complete and as always, the competition has already unearthed some gems from the domestic circuit. Apart from the explosive batting of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, India have also discovered a bowler with raw pace in Mayank Yadav, who has caught everyone’s attention by consistently bowling 150 kmph-plus balls in IPL 2024. He also bowled the fastest ball of the season at a speed of 156.7 kmph.
The 21-year-old Delhi fast bowler won two Player of the Match awards in his first two matches for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), with most of his balls clocking in at 150 kmph.
As a result, Mayank has included his name in India’s 2024 T20 World Cup squad after match-winning three-fers against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
However, the fast bowler is currently injured and will miss at least LSG’s next two matches due to lower abdominal pain. “He felt a little bit of tightness at the top of his hip before the last game, but it was a pain out of ten, and we thought there were clinical signs,” said LSG head coach Justin Langer. In a press conference on 11 April.
One should note that the T20 World Cup 2024 is around the corner and India have not yet announced their 15-member squad for the premier ICC event, which is scheduled to be held in West Indies and USA in June.
With Mohammed Shami out of the competition due to injury and some other experienced fast bowlers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel are yet to make their mark in this year’s IPL, the question on everyone’s mind is whether Mayank Yadav deserves a place in the Indian team. For T20 World Cup.
While Mayank has captured the collective imagination of the cricket fraternity in the country with his blazing pace, whether the fast bowler deserves to be selected for the T20 World Cup is still under debate.
With this in mind, let’s see if Mayank Yadav really deserves a place in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2024.
Who is Mayank Yadav?
Mayank, who represents Delhi in the domestic circuit, caught the attention of former Indian player Vijay Dahiya during a Vijay Hazare Trophy game. Considering that this happened just before the IPL Mega Auction 2022, the youngster was bought by LSG and Dahiya was their assistant coach at that time.
He did not play any matches in the first season and was ruled out of the following campaign with a torn hamstring. However, Mayank has performed well for Delhi and North Zone in the white-ball formats in domestic cricket.
He returned for Delhi with five wickets in four matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023-24 and six wickets in five matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Mayank, who was selected in the North Zone team, was one of the best performers in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy. He took 12 wickets in five matches at an average of 17.58.
However, the surprising thing is that Mayank has played only one first-class match in his young career. His Ranji Trophy debut came against Maharashtra, where he took two wickets.
Fast track two years after initially being bought by LSG and Mayank impressed everyone straight away in his IPL debut against PBKS as he won the Player of the Match award after an impressive spell of 3 wickets for 27 runs, helping Lucknow Helped to win an important home match.
That said, he has perhaps still not done enough as a fast bowler to earn a place in India’s T20 World Cup squad, which is an area where the Men in Blue have faltered in ICC tournaments over the last decade.
Why Mayank Yadav should not be selected for T20 World Cup?
By now it is common knowledge that India have not won any ICC trophy since the Champions Trophy 2013 and their bowling attack has not helped the team end its trophy drought on the global stage.
India has been one of the strongest national teams since their memorable ODI World Cup win in 2011. After that tournament win on home soil, India have featured in five T20 World Cups and their record in those ICC events does not read.
India’s performance in T20 World Cup since 2011
2012 in Sri Lanka – Super Eight stage
2014 in Bangladesh – Runner-up
2016 in India – Semifinals
2021 in UAE – Group stage
2022 Australia – Semifinals
Surprisingly, India have since lost all three of their T20 World Cup knockout matches by failing to defend the target – in 2014 (lost to Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final), in 2016 (lost to West Indies by 7 wickets in the semi-final Lost by 10 wickets), and in 2022 (lost to England by 10 wickets in the semi-finals).
Furthermore, India’s only defeat against Pakistan came in a T20 World Cup game in 2021 when the Men in Blue failed to defend the target of 152 runs and suffered a 10-wicket defeat as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Experienced bowlers like Kumar were struggling to thwart the Pakistani batsmen.
So it is safe to say that even experienced Indian bowlers have struggled to deliver their best performances in difficult conditions in ICC tournaments over the years. Additionally, there is Mayank’s inexperience in the Indian domestic circuit as well and one can imagine that picking the 21-year-old speedster comes with a huge risk.
Additionally, past experience of including dynamic fast bowlers like Umran Malik into the senior Indian team on the basis of strong IPL performances has not always worked.
Like Mayank, Umran Malik was also in the news thanks to his good performances in the IPL, but after being selected for the national team, the Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler failed to perform to his potential and was last seen on the international stage in July. Was seen in action. Year.
The fact that there are only limited fast bowling slots to fill will not help Mayank Yadav’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad as it could prove costly for India given his lack of experience in domestic and international cricket. Could.
India’s think tank has proven talents like Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Deepak Chahar in the T20 stage. And while a raw talent like Mayank Yadav is bound to wear the national colors soon, perhaps including him in the 2024 T20 squad on the strength of some good performances is a step too far in his still-early career.
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