Lucknow Super Giants's Mayank Yadav appeals unsuccessfully during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 T20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Tuesday, April 2, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: A 21-year-old, with a rather deceptive physique, made Royal Challengers Bengaluru feel every bit of his God-given skill on Tuesday night.
Mayank Yadav (4-0-14-3) showed up at the M Chinnaswamy stadium with a still-nascent reputation of being one of the fastest bowlers to have ever played in the Indian Premier League and reiterated that point with a spell so fiery that all RCB could do was pray their batters don’t get hurt in the process.
Luckily, none of them were physically injured by the human conveyor belt of thunderbolts, but their psyche will hold onto the trauma for longer as they wilted to Mayank’s pace and succumbed to a 28-run loss at the hands of Lucknow Super Giants.
RCB were bowled out for 153 in 19.4 overs in pursuit of Lucknow’s 182. This was RCB’s third loss in the opening four games, meaning they continue to remain ninth on the table ahead of bottom-placed Mumbai Indians.
At this point, given how Faf du Plessis’ men have shown up, the position seems appropriate, and one needn’t look beyond this game to come to that conclusion.
Having won a good toss, RCB chose to field first, hoping to restrict Lucknow to a decent total before giving their batters a chance to capitalise on the mild dew which sets in post 9 pm.
They failed in achieving the first target, giving away 181 runs for five wickets after Quinton de Kock (81) and Nichola Pooran (40 n.o.) made the straying bowlers pay. Save for Yash Dayal (4-0-24-1) and Glenn Maxwell (4-0-23-2), none of RCB's bowlers wanted to call on the ball for fear of getting put away.
Frankly, had RCB’s bowlers been tighter, they could well have kept Lucknow down to somewhere in the ballpark of 160, but generous bowling means even a lacklustre stint from the opposition would yield more than 180.
Still, the score ‘seemed’ achievable. Well, not for RCB.
With skipper KL Rahul opening the innings with two left-arm spinners (Manimaran Siddharth and Krunal Pandya), Lucknow’s plan was obvious against Virat Kohli and Du Plessis. They wanted to tie them up long enough to see if they manufacture shots after a while. Kohli did eventually and fell for 22.
Just as the spinners were coming off, Mayank came on in the sixth over. He got rid of Maxwell in his opening over. The second over was a blur, and it accounted for Cameroon Green. More impressively, the first ball of this over was delivered at 156.7 kmph, making it the fastest delivery in the tournament’s history.
Thereafter, Mayank’s fear factor dictated the remainder of the innings. RCB waved the white flag.