Star pacer Mayank Yadav’s participation in IPL 2025 is still uncertain. However, Lucknow Super Giants have been working with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru as well and coach Justin Langer and mentor Zaheer Khan remain very hopeful, but they don’t want to rush him back.

“We’ve had some interesting conversations around his roadmap to recovery and fitness with NCA, so we’re working with them,” Zaheer told reporters in Lucknow on Tuesday. “We hope for their support as well, them buying into the philosophy of really looking after a youngster, because he’s not only important for LSG, he’s important for Indian cricket as well.”

Notably, Mayank had an injury-ridden 2024 as well. He won Player of the Match in two of his first three games at IPL 2024, for stunning spells of 150kph-plus pace, but then in his fourth game he left the field with an abdominal issue that ruled him out of the tournament as well. He started rehab at the NCA and recovered from that injury, but then he sustained a separate injury while bowling at the NCA as well.

“You know a bowler of his calibre, to be able to play consistently for the long term, that’s where I’m trying to put in all my efforts and energy, in terms of giving him the best environment which will really help him play longer without really taking these breaks. I think that’s really important and that’s the outlook which we have. So as much as we are keen on having him [play IPL 2025], we want him 150% fit not just 100% fit so we’ll do everything possible to get him there,” he added.

Meanwhile, Coach Justin Langer opined on the same lines, saying that it often takes time for a young fast bowler to develope their body to settle and shrug off injuries as well.

“We know how exciting he is, we watched that last year… Some of that pace last year was extreme pace, so we’re very hopeful but he’s a young fast bowler, and it doesn’t matter what country you’re from, it’s a hard business being able to bowl that pace, and with a young body, it’s going to take some time to develop. So we’re hopeful and positive, but we’ll wait and see how things progress over the next little piece.”

Meanwhile, LSG will have a new captain at IPL 2025, with Rishabh Pant appointed for role after becoming the most-expensive player ever at an IPL auction (INR 27 crore/USD 3.21 million approx.). Both Zaheer and Langer showed excitement at having a batter of his talents in the set-up as well.

“I have no doubt the kind of player he is, I hope he stays as expressive when he captains,” Zaheer said. “We want to imbibe those values within the team as well. When we were looking at him as captain, we were looking at a kind of flavour LSG should play. We hope LSG approach their cricket the same way Rishabh plays his cricket.”

“I believe in T20 cricket, most important person in the team is the captain. If I’m selecting a team, the No. 1 person is captain so we’re thrilled to have Rishabh, with his style of play,” Langer said. “We’re going to be on the edge of our seat. It’s going to be exciting to watch, he’s got something different not many have. He has this freedom, talent, and a way about him where he’s going have a real impact as captain and player.”