Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) fielding coach Jonty Rhodes has revealed that the franchise’s pace bowling coach Morne Morkel believes that the young pace sensation Mayank Yadav is a prized possession owing to his serious pace. Rhodes also said that Morkel compared Yadav to Allan Donald, a legendary South African pace bowler as well. However, Mayank Yadav made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for the Lucknow-based franchise in 2024 and left a mark immediately.
Rhodes 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,” Jonty Rhodes added
Jonty Rhodes further asked LSG to groom Mayank Yadav properly while citing Umran Malik’s downfall. However, Rhodes wants Mayank to focus on line and lengths and not just pace only.
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.”
“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,” Jonty Rhodes concluded.
