Mayank Yadav set to join LSG on Tuesday, likely to play against RR on Saturday

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)'s express pace bowler Mayank Yadav is set to join the squad on Tuesday. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Mayank will likely be available for LSG's next game, against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday in Jaipur.

His availability will be another boost for LSG, who had started IPL 2025 without him, Avesh Khan and Akash Deep, who were all recovering from different injuries. Mohsin Khan was also injured and ruled out of the tournament, before being replaced by Shardul Thakur.

Avesh and Akash Deep later joined the squad, and have since played five and three games, respectively, out of LSG's six matches so far. Despite a depleted pace attack, LSG have won four games, and host Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at home on Monday.

Mayank, 22, was primarily recovering from a back injury, and has been out of action since October 2024. That is when he had made his international debut, and played three T20Is against Bangladesh at home. He missed the entire domestic season after that and was recovering at the BCCI's Centre Of Excellence (CoE, formerly NCA) in Bengaluru. LSG head coach Justin Langer had said ten days ago after seeing videos of Mayank operating at "90-95%" that the fast bowler would join the squad soon.

Mayank had played only four games for LSG last season, and was among their five retained players before the mega auction.

Despite fielding a depleted pace attack from the start, LSG have been among the better bowling attacks this season, handing Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) their first loss by restricting them to 190 in Hyderabad, defending 203 at home against Mumbai Indians (MI), and most recently derailing Gujarat Titans' charge by restricting them to 180 after they were 122 for 2 in 13 overs.

Thakur, LSG's most experienced bowler, is second on the top wicket-takers' list, while spinner Digvesh Rathi has been their find of the season.