Mayank Yadav returns: Comeback or risky move for Lucknow’s pace star?
Due to a severe back injury and a stubbed toe, Mayank Yadav was benched for six months and missed the start of the 2024-2025 season of a prestigious Indian cricket tournament. But now, he’s back on the pitch again since late April.
From fast bowls that exceeded 150 miles per hour, his recent ones only reached around 140 miles per hour. Because of this, fans say he’s not ready yet and may need more time to recover his previous glory. How true is that?
Enough time for recovery
The pace star had six months of recovery for his injuries—an adequate time frame for a full recovery. He suffered from a lumbar stress injury, and on average, it takes 20-30 weeks (5 to 7 months) for a full recovery. Since Mayank Yadav got injured in October last year and was back on the pitch in April 2025, he had six months of recovery in total.
Lack of confidence or lack of pace?
Former Indian cricket star Ambati Rayudu said in an interview, 'I think it is a lack of confidence more than a lack of pace, because once you are coming back from an injury, it is hard to bend your back and get back to your best. We have seen Archer, it took him six months to be back at his best,’ when asked about Yadav’s performance versus Punjab’s local team.
This might be the case since, as mentioned earlier, Yadav had enough time to recover. His confidence in his bowls might not be back yet, but he’ll regain his composure and throw lightning-fast bowls again in time.
Did his team rush him back?
Since Yadav is a vital player for his team, people were speculating that they rushed his recovery so he could play as soon as possible. However, Lucknow’s team mentor, Zaheer Khan, reassured fans that the cricket star’s team were cautious not to rush his recovery.
‘Even though he had joined the team, we were taking our time just to create that comfort around him. I know that fast bowling is never easy, especially in this format when the batters are coming so hard at you. So, that was the thought process,’ he said in an interview.
Despite this, Ambati Rayudu disagreed and stated, ' It will be tough if we say he (Mayank) is not performing, but LSG might have just shown some desperation to just get him into the mix, maybe he is not ready yet.’
Is he ready?
Only Mayank Yadav can answer this question, but based on the facts, he is ready for the pitch—he just needs time to get used to it again. His recent performances were not optimal, but settling in again is part of recovery as well.
