Bengaluru: Making waves with his scorching pace this IPL season, making some of the finest in the game and the format duck, weave and scramble to the non-striker’s end; uncapped LSG tearaway Mayank Yadav entered the record books during the clash with RCB on Tuesday as he became the first bowler in the cash-rich domestic league to win the ‘Player of the Match’ award in his first two matches.
In what has been a dazzling debut season in the IPL for the Lucknow-based franchise so far, the 21-year-old tearaway from Delhi registered scarcely believable figures of 3/14 to lead his team to a 28-run win over Bengaluru at the latter’s home ground, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Rocking the RCB in its chase of 182, made the batters jump around with his raw pace and picked up three key wickets to take his side to a facile win at the Chinnaswamy. He was deservedly adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ for his sensational spell.
Sending down thunderbolts, including one that clocked 156.7 kph, the fastest by far this IPL season and the fourth-fastest in the history of the tournament, he dismissed Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green in his four-over spell.
In LSG’s previous encounter against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium, Yadav impressed on his IPL debut, picking up three wickets at the expense of only 27 runs. His bowling heroics saw him walk away with the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
With back-to-back three-wicket hauls in his first two IPL matches, Mayank became only the sixth bowler in the tournament’s history to do so. The others to have achieved the feat earlier were Lasith Malinga, Amit Singh, Mayank Markande, and Jofra Archer.
Electing to bat first after calling correctly at the toss, LSG openers Quinton de Kock and skipper KL Rahul (20 in 14 balls, with two sixes) got their team off to a sedate start, raising a 53-run stand for the first wicket. A 56-run stand between Kock and Marcus Stoinis (24 in 15 balls, with one four and two sixes) helped LSG cross the 100-run mark. RCB bowlers did put pressure on the LSG batters towards the end, but Nicholas Pooran’s cameo (40* in 21 balls, with one four and five sixes) took the team to 181/5 in their 20 overs.
Glenn Maxwell (2/23) was the pick of the bowlers for RCB while Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal and Reece Topley took a wicket each. In pursuit of a gettable target, openers Virat Kohli (22 in 16 balls, with two fours and a six) got off to a brisk start in the company of skipper Faf Du Plessis (19 in 13 balls, with three fours). They raised an opening stand of 40 runs before Mayank tore into the RCB batting line-up, reducing them to 94/5.
Mahipal Lomror (33 in 13 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and Rajat Patidar (29 in 21 balls, with two fours and two sixes) tried to put up a fight but the RCB innings faded at just 153 in 19.4 overs. Apart from Mayank, Naveen-ul-Haq (2/25) was also among the wickets for LSG. Left-armer M Siddarth, Yash Thakur and Stoinis also got a wicket each. The RCB is currently at the ninth spot with a win and two losses while the LSG is at fourth with two wins and a loss.
