Lucknow Super Giants stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran showered praise on Mayank Yadav after their 21-run win against Punjab Kings at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday. Yadav, making his IPL debut, hogged the limelight as he tested the speed gun.
The right-arm pacer touched the 150 kmph-mark in his first over and then also clocked the fastest delivery of IPL 2024 as he bowled a 155.8 kmph ball in his second over. With two short balls rule in the IPL, Yadav bounced out Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh. He also accounted for Jitesh Sharma with a bumper and returned with impressive figures of 3-27 in his maiden IPL match.
Yadav was brilliant in the middle overs and he was awarded Player of the Match for his fine performance. Pooran heaped praise on the 21-year-old youngster for his match-winning show.
Nicholas Pooran said in the post-match presentation, “Mayank’s was the story of the night.That was an inspiring performance, he (Mayank) is a young guy. He showed the entire world how good he is. He is not only fast, but also is accurate. It’s the beauty of the IPL, gives the local players to perform. Wonderful platform. Every game is an opportunity, expect them to get better with every game.”
Meanwhile, earlier in the match, LSG posted the joint-highest score at the venue – 199. Pooran, who scored 21-ball 42 was delighted with the collective effort of the team and added they got wickets at the right time after Dhawan and Bairstow added 102 runs for the opening alliance.
He added, “Wonderful start, nice to win in front of the home crowd. We had conversations, spoke about getting good starts. Spoke about getting the right combinations. It was a good total. It’s a big venue, one side is big, one side short. It’s about getting wickets and getting boundaries. It’s only going to get challenging. Shikhar and Bairstow played well. They didn’t take the game away from us as we got wickets at the right time.”
Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Tuesday.
