Mayank Yadav

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mayank Yadav

• Mayank Yadav started playing cricket at a young age with his friends and liked bowling.

• He belongs to Rataho village, Marauna, Supaul, Bihar but his father moved to Delhi before Mayank was born.

• His father was a cricket lover and often told him stories about legendary pacers like Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh who often hit batters on the helmet. He was inspired by his father’s talks to become a fast bowler.

• At the age of ten, he started training at Rohtak Road Gymkhana, Shahdara.

• When he was 13 years old, he went to Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi, where he was trained under Tarak Sinha (popularly known as Ustaadji) and Devendra Sharma.

  

• Yadav has faced rejections in the trials for Delhi Under-14 and Delhi Under-16 teams.

• Devendra Sharma said in an interview that when Yadav told him that he was a fast bowler, he did not believe him due to his lean body; however, he was amazed at Yadav’s bowling speed when he bowled in nets.

• While studying in 10th standard, he decided to take a leave for 4 months to focus on cricket training; however, when the school authorities denied it, he dropped out of school to pursue a career in cricket.

• His parents were worried about his education but he convinced them that he would leave cricket if he could not get selected for the Delhi Under-19 team in the next 6 months. He later played for Delhi Under-19 in the 2019 Cooch Behar Trophy.

  

• Mayank Yadav liked bowling yorkers and bouncers at an average speed of around 150 kph. He became famous as ‘sar pe maarne wala bowler’ (bowler who hits on the head) in the Delhi domestic circuit.

• He said in an interview that he has been fascinated by speed since a young age and likes jets, rockets, and superbikes.

• In 2020, before trials for the Delhi Under-19 team, Services (Indian Navy) offered him a job paying Rs 50 thousand monthly with an offer to play in all formats of cricket for them; however, he declined the offer as he wanted to play for Delhi.

• In 2022, he was acquired by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for his base price of Rs 20 lakhs in the second round of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction but he did not get a chance to play in the season.

  

• He got injured during a domestic match in 2023 due to which he could not participate in the 2023 IPL season.

  

• In October 2022, he made his T20 debut for Delhi against Manipur in the 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT).

• On 16 December 2022, during his List-A debut match for Delhi against Haryana in the 2022 Vijay Hazare Trophy, Haryana needed 12 runs in the last 2 overs to win but Yadav bowled a maiden 49th over and helped Delhi win the match.

• Yadav made his Ranji (first-class) debut on 13 December 2022 for Delhi against Maharashtra.

• He was the highest wicket-taker for North Zone in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy as he took 12 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 17.58. He bowled a delivery with a speed of 155 kph in the tournament.

• Yadav played his first IPL match on 30 March 2024 for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 2024 IPL season, he took 3 wickets for 27 runs. He won Man of the Match on his IPL debut.

  

• He became famous for the delivery bowled with a speed of 155.8 kph which was the fastest delivery of the 2024 IPL season before Gerald Coetzee overtook him on 1 April 2024 with a delivery of 157.4 kph speed. ^[2]Hindustan Times ^[3]Times Now On 2 April 2024, he broke his own record with a speed of 156.7 kmph in a match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

• In an interview, his father thanked Tarak Sinha for helping his son with training. He also revealed that once he did not have money to send Mayank for a cricket tournament.

• He, then, requested Sinha to allow Mayank to play and promised him that he would pay his tournament fees later. Sinha denied taking money from Mayank’s father and gave Rs 5000 to Mayank to buy his first cricket shoes.

  

• Mayank Yadav also thanked his family for supporting him throughout his cricketing journey. His father once said to him that his job was to focus on cricket, and his father would cover all other expenses.

  

• He is an ardent follower of Lord Krishan and used to read the Bhagavad Gita during the COVID-19 lockdown.  ^[4]YouTube – Second innings with Manjot Kalra