“He’s LSG’s Rolls Royce” – Jonty Rhodes reveals Morne Morkel’s impression of Mayank Yadav

Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) fielding coach Jonty Rhodes has revealed that the franchise’ erstwhile pace bowling coach Morne Morkel believes that Mayank Yadav is a prized possession owing to his serious pace. Rhodes said that Morkel compared Yadav to Allan Donald, legendary South African pacer.

Notably, Mayank made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for the Lucknow-based franchise in 2024. The 22-year-old impressed everyone with sheer pace, bowling consistently at 150 kmph. The speedster, however, managed just four games, picking up seven wickets, including three-for against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

Mayank sustained an injury while playing against the Gujarat Titans (GT) due to lower abdomen soreness, which forced him to miss many games.

While hinting at IPL 2025 retentions, Rhodes credited the Super Giants for allowing the youngster to stay with the team despite injury while working on his rehabilitation. The 55-year-old recently told IANS (via Mid-Day):

"I'm not a bowling coach, but Morne Morkel, during the previous season, when Mayank got injured at the start of the preparation, literally Morne said, 'Wow, this guy (Mayank Yadav), he's like the Rolls Royce of bowlers, similar to how we used to call Allan Donald a Rolls Royce. He is LSG's Rolls Royce."

"He had a whole season with the team and that's why the owners decided to keep him with the team, he did all his rehab throughout the IPL and stayed a part of the unit because we really believe that he is a young guy with extreme talent and we saw him in the games that he played and everybody was really monitoring him not wrapping him in cotton wool,” Rhodes added.

Mayank Yadav holds the record of bowling the fastest delivery of IPL 2024, 156.7 kmph against RCB.

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“We saw what happened with Umran Malik” – Jonty Rhodes wants LSG to handle Mayank Yadav with care

Jonty Rhodes further warned LSG to groom Mayank Yadav properly while citing Umran Malik’s downfall. Rhodes wants Mayank to focus on line and lengths and not just pace.

He said:

“We saw what happened with Umran Malik who burst onto the scenes at sheer pace we all got excited, but you know the question is can the player bowl to the game plan that's because they're bowling some of the best batters in the world and sometimes on really good surfaces so if you've just got pace and you can't bowl in good areas or with good skill, the better players will hit you out the ground.”

He added:

"So I think from a point of view where LSG haven't worried about, or haven't gone, let's wrap him in cotton wool, because then he comes to the game, you never know what's going to happen.

"But the preparation is key and hopefully, you know, through the season when the off season and now the season again by the time he comes to IPL and if he's playing with LSG again or even if he's not playing for LSG I just hope Mayank is bowling and is fit for the whole IPL because there's a talent that is exciting."

Notably, Malik had a breakthrough IPL 2022 season, where he picked up 22 wickets but managed just five wickets in eight games at a 10.85 economy rate in the 2023 edition. The Kashmir-born pacer bowled just one over in IPL 2024, giving away 15 runs.

He failed to make it to the playing XI against competitors like skipper Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, and Marco Jansen.

While LSG is favorite to retain Mayank Yadav, it remains to be seen whether the SunRisers Hyderabad retain Umran Malik for the IPL 2025 season.