Mayank Yadav: Backstory of the toast of IPL 2024

For a batsman in Delhi cricket, they say, no sound is worse than the one made by a locally-manufactured ball when hitting the bat or any part of the human body that is uncovered.

The ball usually known in common Delhi cricket parlance as the kancha ball, can break the bat or leave one’s exposed part of the body with a patch of blue.

It is generally given to trundlers, or to newcomers in practice sessions. Most coaches buy it in bulk to use it in practice sessions since it costs less.

But when Mayank Yadav, was inducted into the famed Sonnet Cricket Club at around 15, he was so quick that the coaches Tarak Sinha and Devender Sharma decided to hand him the SG Test ball, a much softer and more expensive cricket ball which is usually used by top cricketers in the club.

“He came to the club 6-7 years ago; his father brought him here. He used to appear very weak at that time. When I took the trial, he bowled very fast. We were surprised to see such a weak guy bowl so fast,” recalls Devender Sharma, who is in charge of the Sonnet Club after Sinha’s passing/death. 

“He did not have shoes of his size. I provided shoes of his size as reward for his performance. We made him play at the junior level, under-16 and under-19 tournaments at the club level in Delhi. To the good bowlers, we give SG Test, because the kancha ball travels very fast and hits one very hard. We use SG Test only for good players. Mayank must have been 14-15 when he was given the SG Test ball,” he tells www.thedelhijunction.com.

Mayank’s father, who owns a manufacturing unit of car accessories and currently makes sirens, horns and lights for police vehicles, says he was deeply interested in cricket and that is why he decided to introduce his son to cricket. 

“He started playing cricket at the age of 6-7 when he was in class 3rd. I first asked him to join Rohtak Road (RR) Gymkhana. Then when he was 14-15, he asked me to put him in the Sonnet Club,” recalls father Prabhu.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mayank Yadav (left) with Devender Sharma with the image of late Tarak Sinha

RR Gymkhana itself is a well-known club having produced several first class cricketers and India Test star Ishant Sharma. But Sonnet under Tarak Sinha had more glamour and produced far more Test cricketers.

“I was fond of cricket. That is why I put him into cricket,” says Prabhu, who initially used to make digital clocks for vehicles before switching over to making other accessories.

“Manufacturing involves changing with times and demand,” he tells www.thedelhijunction.com.  

“I saw how he developed in two years of cricket and how good he was. He used to bowl well right from the start. He’d take five to seven wickets in a match regularly. He even took nine wickets in one match,” says the father who left his native district in Bihar as a 10-year-old to work in Delhi, and slowly built his career. He initially worked as an employee but then started his own manufacturing unit.

Mayank studied in SM Arya School in Punjabi Bagh and before shifting to Indraprastha School in Dwarka.

But his grooming in cricket was taking place at Sonnet at the Sri Venkateswara College at Moti Bagh.

“The thing with a medium-pacer is that the more one practices, the better he becomes. Whenever I sent him for trial, whether for Delhi or for Lucknow, he impressed. He practiced well.”

Mayank’s Ranji Trophy debut in December, 2022, against Maharashtra at Pune is the only first-class game he has played so far, which means that he is yet to get tested for the longer version. He broke down in the 18th over after taking 2/46 (17.2 overs).

Even last season, although he impressed bowling at 155 kmph in a Deodhar Trophy game and picking 12 wickets in five matches, the most for North Zone in the tournament, he got injured in a match for Delhi, hurting his hamstring, and therefore had to miss the Ranji Trophy season.

“He would get demoralised for not getting opportunities in the IPL. But he waited with patience,” says coach Sharma. 

There were some physical changes in the body ahead of his Ranji Trophy debut. He was only 20 then.

“His height increased suddenly just before his Ranji debut [in December, 2022]. So we realised that he needed to train.

“We got him to strengthen his legs. His height had increased suddenly. We got him to do endurance training and half-squats. He came into IPL and got his schedule. He used to work on his endurance and would practice at the club.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Mayank Yadav (second from left standing) with members of Sonnet Club

Mayank had earlier missed an opportunity to get into national reckoning ahead of the Test series against England.

“Ajit Agarkar wanted to see him around the time Akash Deep made his debut for India. I told him to play since he was undergoing rehab in Mumbai. However, he said he couldn’t play because of a hamstring injury that he suffered in a game for Delhi as the pitch was wet and his spikes got stuck. He hadn’t played cricket until now.”

The March 30 game against Punjab Kings was the first for him in four months. He won man of the match in that game, picking 3/27 and bowling in excess of 155 kmph to make others sit up and take notice.

He then reached 156.7 kmph on Tuesday, April 2, to record the fourth fastest ball in the history of IPL behind Shaun Tait’s 157.7 in 2011, Lockie Ferguson’s 157.3 in 2022 and Umran Malik’s 157 in 2024, picking 3/14 against Royal Challengers Bangalore and winning the second Man of the Match award in the process.

Tags : Cricket, IPL 2024, Mayank Yadav, LSG, RCB, Royal Challengers Bangalore