“He won't play tomorrow” – Justin Langer on Mayank Yadav’s availability for LSG’s next two games of IPL 2024 against DC and KKR
Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) head coach Justin Langer recently stated that Mayank Yadav will remain unavailable for the team’s next two encounters over the weekend. LSG are slated to play Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 12 and 14, respectively.
Mayank Yadav made his IPL debut in LSG’s game against Punjab Kings. In his maiden outing, the 21-year-old pacer grabbed the spotlight with a 155.8 km/h delivery and ended up bowling a match-winning spell of 3/27 to be named the Player of the Match.
Mayank retained his spot in LSG’s playing XI in the team’s next game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and bettered his performance by registering 3/14 in his spell to win back-to-back Player of the Match awards.
In a press conference on Thursday, April 10, ahead of LSG’s upcoming encounter against DC, Langer said that Mayank picked up a minor injury during his previous outing against Gujarat Titans (GT) and, as a result, is “unlikely” to feature in the next two games. Sharing details of the same, he said:
“That's the plan (to have Mayank fit for the CSK clash on April 19). We want him to play every game if possible. But he'll be working towards it; he's working very hard every day to be ready for whatever our next game is. He won't play tomorrow; it's unlikely... with the very short turnaround, it's unlikely that he plays these two games. But he's certainly working towards playing whenever he possibly can.”
The Lucknow-based franchise, after their game against KKR, will travel back home to host defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 19. Notably, LSG and CSK will play two games back-to-back this season, with the former flying to Chennai after their home match against the latter on April 23.
“We are very hopeful he'll start building himself up and be back bowling again soon” – Justin Langer
Langer, however, was hopeful of the pacer recovering in time and getting back to action soon. LSG will be playing two games in the next three days, as after hosting DC at home, they’ll move to Kolkata for their next game at Eden Gardens. Delving further into Yadav’s situation, Langer mentioned:
“He felt a little bit of tightness at the top of his hip leading into the last game, but that was about a one-out-of-ten pain, and we thought that there were clinical signs. Everything through the doctors and the physios seemed perfectly okay. He bowled that first over [against Titans] and started feeling something in his hip.”
“But we had an MRI scan, and there is a very, very small swelling in there. So we are very hopeful he'll start building himself up and be back bowling again soon.”
Lucknow Super Giants are currently placed third in the IPL 2024 points table, with six points to their name from three wins and a loss.