Langer: Mayank is 'up and running' at '90-95%'

Mayank Yadav, the express Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bowler, is "up and running" and bowling at "90 to 95%" at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (earlier the NCA) in Bengaluru, the team's head coach Justin Langer said after the thrilling win over Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday night, an outcome scripted by the depleted bowling attack.

Langer said he had seen a video of Mayank, who is recovering from back and toe injuries, bowling in Bengaluru, but while hopeful of having the quick in the squad soon, didn't have a timeline to share.

"What I do know is he's working very hard at the NCA, and I saw some video of him bowling yesterday [Thursday] and he was bowling at about 90 to 95%," Langer said at the press conference. "So Mayank's up and running, which is really great for Indian cricket, for IPL. We saw the impact he had last year. I don't think there's been a bowler in India who's bowled faster than Mayank Yadav. That's why there's so much talk about him.

"He's up, he's keen to get going. He bowled really well in Bangalore yesterday at the NCA. I think you have another couple of bowls and hopefully... NCA, to their credit, have obviously done a very good job because they've got Avesh Khan back for us, they've got our Akash Deep back for us. So we really appreciate the work they're doing to get the boys back playing and now hopefully Mayank as well."

The last time Langer gave an update on Mayank, he had expressed hope the bowler would be available for the "back-end" of the tournament. Mayank had been recovering from a back injury at the time, but his return had been pushed back by "a week or two" when he stubbed his toe against his bed and subsequently picked up an infection in the toe.

LSG had a severely depleted bowling attack at the start of IPL 2025, with Mohsin Khan, Mayank, Avesh and Akash Deep all recovering from injuries. They brought in Shardul Thakur once Mohsin was ruled out before their tournament opener, and have since had Avesh and Akash Deep also join the squad one by one.

Thakur has already played a crucial rule in both their wins. He has picked up seven wickets in four games, and bowled a game-changing 19th over against MI where he conceded only seven runs when 29 were needed from 12 balls with Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma batting.

Friday was Akash Deep's first game on return from his back injury and he finished with 4-0-46-1, while Avesh has played three matches, but has been expensive and picked up only two wickets.