Questions raised over Mayank Yadav's rehab at BCCI CoE following yet another injury setback for LSG pacer during IPL 2025 - Reports

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Mayank Yadav's campaign has come to a bitter end yet again as yet another injury setback rules him out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The right-arm speedster had missed the majority of the season, but was cleared to return before the tournament was suspended, until injury struck again.

Mayank Yadav was under the supervision of the physios at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru after suffering an injury in October 2024 in his maiden international series against Bangladesh. He made his comeback after a lengthy layoff during the away encounter against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium.

Despite a decent spell, he did not cast a credible impression of a seamless return to action. The pace had considerably dropped off, and the rhythm was not there to be seen. He effortlessly breached the 150 kmph mark in his debut season, even bowling as high as 156 kmph. But, this time around, all he could muster were deliveries in the early 140 kmph range.

He ended with figures of 0-60 in his next appearance against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamsala, and was smashed for three consecutive sixes by Josh Inglis in his first over itself.

A source has questioned how the pacer availed a fitness certificate from the physios with limited sessions, and not bowling at full throttle.

“For a bowler who had such a long absence from the game, it’s surprising that it took the CoE just 10-12 sessions to give him a green signal. One-third of those sessions were at a reduced intensity, and he started bowling at 80-85% only towards the end of March,” a source told the Times of India.

A serious transition had taken place at the CoE during the critical stages of Mayank Yadav's recovery. Nitin Patel had left his role as Head of Sports Science, and the responsibility of overseeing the pacer's rehab was passed down to the lead physiotherapist, Dhananjay Kaushik.

Apart from the eventual contentious clearance, the source was baffled as to how Mayank Yadav's injury-prone bowling action was not looked at during the entire team of his rehab work at the CoE.

“It is baffling why his action isn’t addressed yet. His body continues to fall towards the side after landing, and that impact will continue to add stress to his back. It is like a car running at 150 kmph and taking a sudden left turn. The pace which he generates is because of the natural gift of the hyperextension of the elbow of the bowling arm. Action needs to be addressed, and he needs a proper rehabilitation plan which should have no interference from anyone – franchise, state team or anyone,” the source added.

In two full IPL seasons, Mayank Yadav has only played six matches, where he has only bowled his full quota of overs on four occasions.

William O'Rourke replaces Mayank Yadav for the remainder of IPL 2025

LSG have been forced to call in a replacement ahead of the IPL 2025 resumption following Mayank Yadav's injury. New Zealand's William O'Rourke was roped in for INR 3 crore to combat the late blow.

LSG's pace attack has been an issue from the start as both Avesh Khan and Akash Deep were injured alongside Mayank Yadav at the start of the campaign. The franchise had to bring in Shardul Thakur at the eleventh hour, while also using inexperienced uncapped bowlers like Prince Yadav and Akash Singh to complete the bowling attack.