Mayank Yadav returns from injury a slower bowler

Playing his first competitive match in six months, tearaway quick Mayank Yadav came back a much slower bowler. He returned figures of 4-0-40-2, bowled the first over of a T20 match for only the second time in his career, and took his first T20 wicket off a slower ball in matches that have a ball-by-ball record. The slower balls were the standout feature of his comeback; he has never bowled more in a single T20 match than the eight he sent down at the Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians on Sunday.

Eyes train on the speed gun whenever Mayank runs in to bowl. It was his high pace - a high of 156.7kph - and accuracy that excited the selectors, who gave him a special fast bowler's central contract. But the high pace came at a cost: frequent injuries that hardly let him play longer formats. Eighteen of his 36 representative matches are T20s, and only one first-class.

Mayank was primarily recovering from a back injury, and missed the entire 2024-25 domestic season. He was recovering at the BCCI's Centre Of Excellence (CoE, formerly NCA) in Bengaluru. His return to action had been pushed back by "a week or two" when he stubbed his toe against his bed, and subsequently picked up an infection, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer had said in early April.

It was apparent immediately that Mayank was going to ease himself back in after his latest injury cost him six months. The quickest ball he bowled against MI was 142.7kph, which often used to be his slowest pace. He added the smarts, though: after getting pulled for two sixes in the third over by Rohit Sharma, he slipped in a wide slower ball that gave him Rohit's wicket.

Despite that, Mayank remained costly, going for 13 runs in his second over, and 15 in his third over. However, he made a stellar comeback in the 16th, getting Hardik Pandya out bowled top of leg stump with a reversing delivery, and then tying up Suryakumar Yadav and Naman Dhir with slower balls. His final over conceded no boundary.

"It's going to take a while," Anil Kumble said of Mayank's journey to be the bowler he once was, "But very impressed. For a first game, after a long time, especially against a really good batting line-up, Mumbai Indians, a good surface, Wankhede, you know as a bowler, irrespective of when you are playing at the Wankhede, you don't have too many margins of error. So knowing all of that and coming back from injury, he was very impressive.

"He picked up two important wickets, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. I thought the lengths that he bowled and the variations that he provided, was really good."

If Mayank has found himself a more sustainable bowling action, he can work on his strength to add a few clicks to his early 140ks on his comeback. However, there is a big difference between the early 150s and mid-140s, which will call for much more accuracy, control and movement to be effective at the top level.