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LSG slammed for showing desperation in struggling Mayank Yadav's return: ‘…he is not ready yet’
Ambati Rayudu shared his assessment of Mayank's performances on return and blamed the LSG management for showing desperation.
Tearaway pacer Mayank Yadav has not been able to make an impact since his return from injury in IPL 2025. Lucknow Super Giants retained the young paceman for a whopping INR 11 crore, but he missed the first 9 games for LSG due to a back injury. His comeback has not gone as planned so far. With just two wickets in the last two games, Mayank has underperformed in the tricky stage of the tournament, and his economy - 12.50 has been a big letdown.
He looked completely off-colour against Punjab Kings on Sunday and gave away 60 runs in his wicketless four-over spell. The recent results have also not gone well in LSG's favour as they suffered a hat-trick of defeats.
Former India batter Ambati Rayudu shared his assessment of Mayank's performances on return, and blamed the LSG management for showing desperation in getting him back into the team.
"I think it is a lack of confidence more than pace, because once you are coming back from an injury, it is really hard to really bend your back and get back at your best. We have seen Archer, it took him six months to be back at his best. It will tough if we say he (Mayank) is not performing, but LSG might have just shown some desperation to just get him into the mix, maybe he is not ready yet," Rayudu said on ESPNCricinfo.
LSG suffer another defeat
Meanwhile, Prabhsimran Singh set the foundation of PBKS' win with his 48-ball 91-run knock as Punjab Kings posted a mammoth 236 for 5, while later Arshdeep Singh ran riot with the ball and claimed 3 for 16 in four overs. He single-handedly destroyed the LSG top order - Mitchell Marsh (0), Aiden Markram (13) and the ever-dangerous Nicholas Pooran (6) -- to swing the match decisively in Punjab's favour. Ayush Badoni's (74 off 40 balls) effort was a good one albeit it came for a losing cause.
LSG were finally restricted to 199 for 7 in 20 overs and even if they win their last three games and get to 16 points from 14 games, their net run-rate can make things difficult for them.
