Jasprit Bumrah four-for leads Mumbai Indians to fifth straight win
The hosts beat LSG by 54 to extend their IPL winning streak with Mayank Yadav’s injury comeback the consolation for Lucknow
MUMBAI: At the toss for Sunday’s afternoon IPL game at the Wankhede Stadium, Lucknow Super Giants created a buzz by naming young fast bowler Mayank Yadav in the eleven against Mumbai Indians. Playing his first competitive game in seven months, the most exciting Indian fast bowling talent to emerge in recent times, Mayank shone in patches and picked two big wickets – Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya.
On any other day, it could have been a headline act. But against MI, he was up against Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s premier pace bowler. To the bad luck of LSG fans, the MI spearhead chose the match to produce his best display of this season, capturing four wickets to star in the home side’s domination.
Yadav’s comeback display was in vain as MI won by 54 runs. After scoring 215, MI bowled out LSG for 161 to register their fifth straight win, rising to the second spot in the league table (before the DC vs RCB game) with 12 points. After providing the early breakthrough with the wicket of opener Aiden Markram, Bumrah returned to remove David Miller, Abdul Samad and Avesh Khan for figures of 4-0-22-4. Bumrah himself is playing in the IPL after a long-lay off due to lower back stress and had average returns in his first five games with a best of 2/25 against Chennai Super Kings.
He was well supported by seasoned pacer Trent Boult, who finished with 3/20. The left-arm pacer struck crucial blows by picking the wickets of the well-set Mitch Marsh and Ayush Badoni.
Part-time off-spinner Will Jacks was the Player-of-the-Match for his all-round show. The English player’s double blow in the seventh over, dismissing Nicholas Pooran and LSG skipper Rishabh Pant within three balls, proved decisive. He also chipped in with a 21-ball 29. Ryan Rickleton (58 runs off 32 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (54 off 28) were the other main contributors in MI’s imposing total. In the course of his innings, Surya completed 4,000 runs in IPL, the third fastest to do so in terms of balls.
It is the first time that MI have beaten LSG in a league game, the latter having gone into the game with a 6-1 head-to-head record.
The result of the match aside, much focus was on how Mayank would fare. The 22-year-old had burst onto the scene by constantly clocking 150kph-plus during IPL 2024. Making his debut against Punjab Kings in Lucknow, he had picked up 3/27 from his four overs and recorded a top speed of 155.8kph. Since then, there has been an extra interest on his bowling.
On Sunday, the fans didn’t have to wait for long to see him in action as Pant, after electing to bowl, threw the ball straight to the fast bowler.
While he couldn’t create the kind of buzz he had last season with 150-plus thunderbolts, his run-up was smooth and he went through his action nicely. Clearly, he was not going all out, content to clock 140s.
Mayank didn’t take time to settle down. He started with three dot balls and conceded just one four in the over, an over-pitched ball driven past him by Rickleton, who faced all the six balls. The start was tougher against Rohit in his second over. He erred in trying to bounce the MI opener. After being hooked for two sixes, he did well to change tactics and got his reward immediately. He bowled a wide, slower ball and Rohit played into his hands by guiding it into the hands of short third.
He was at his best in his final over after his captain got him to bowl the 16th over of the innings. With his first ball, he clean bowled MI captain Hardik Pandya with a ball that shaped back and took the leg-stump. Cleverly mixing his pace, he conceded just five runs in the over to finish with figures of 4-0-40-2.
LSG mentor and former India pacer Zaheer Khan expressed satisfaction with Mayank’s performance, saying it was mainly about crossing the first hurdle, confident the pace and wickets will come with more game time. “I am happy with the way he has bowled. It was important he had to get through the game. He stayed for 20 overs, he bowled four overs. The execution is only going to get better. The speed is only going to get better as he plays more,” Zaheer said.
