Almost a third of the Indian Premier League 2024 season is over and as always, the competition has already produced some gems from the domestic circuit. Apart from the batting targets of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, India have also found a bowler with raw pace in Mayank Yadav, who has consistently bowled over 150 kmph in IPL 2024. . He also bowled the fastest ball of the season at 156.7 kmph.

The 21-year-old pacer from Delhi won two Player of the Match awards in his first two games for Lucknow Supergiants (LSG), with most of his deliveries north of 150 kmph.

As a result, Mayank named himself for India’s 2024 T20 World Cup squad after winning three matches against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

However, the pacer is currently injured and will miss at least the next two matches of LSG due to lower abdominal pain. “He felt a bit of tightness in the top of his hip, but it was about a pain out of ten, and we thought there were clinical signs,” LSG head coach Justin Langer said. In a press conference on April 11.

One should note that T20 World Cup 2024 is just around the corner and India is yet to announce its 15-man squad for the marquee ICC event which is scheduled to be held in West Indies and USA in June.

With Mohammad Shami out due to injury and a few other veteran fast bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Siraj and Harshal Patel yet to make it into this year’s IPL, it is on everyone’s mind. The question is, does Mayank Yadav deserve a place in the Indian team? For the T20 World Cup.

While Mayank has captured the collective imagination of the cricketing fraternity in the country with his pace, the debate over whether the fast bowler deserves to be selected for the T20 World Cup continues.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at whether Mayank Yadav deserves a place in India’s squad for the T20 WC 2024 or not.

Who is Mayank Yadav?

Mayank, who represented Delhi in the domestic circuit, caught the attention of former India player Vijay Dahiya during a Vijay Hazare Trophy game. Given that the IPL mega auction took place just before 2022, the youngster was snapped up by LSG and Dahiya was their assistant coach at the time.

He did not play in the first season and was ruled out of the following campaign with a torn hamstring. However, Mayank performed well for Delhi and North Zone in the white ball format in domestic cricket.

He took five wickets in four matches for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023–24 and also returned with six wickets in five matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Selected in the North Zone squad, Mayank was one of the standout performers in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy. He took 12 wickets in five matches at an average of 17.58.

Surprisingly, Mayank has played only one first-class game in his young career. His Ranji Trophy debut came against Maharashtra, where he took two wickets.

Fast track two years after being initially bought by LSG and Mayank immediately impressed everyone on his IPL debut against PBKS as he followed an impressive spell of 3 for 27. Earned the player of the match award helping Lucknow win a crucial home match.

That said, he may not yet have done enough to earn a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad as a fast bowler, which has been an area where the Man in Blue has struggled over the past decade. CC has been low in tournaments.

Why Mayank Yadav should not be taken for T20 World Cup?

It is common knowledge by now that India have not won an ICC trophy since the Champions Trophy 2013 and their bowling attack has not helped the team’s goal of ending their trophy drought at the global level.

India have been one of the strongest national teams ever since their memorable ODI World Cup win in 2011. After this tournament win at home, India have participated in five T20 World Cups and their record in these ICC events does not read well.

India’s performance in T20 WC since 2011

2012 in Sri Lanka – Super Eight stage
2014 in Bangladesh – Runners up
2016 in India – Semi-Finals
2021 in UAE – Group Stage
2022 in Australia – Semi-Finals

Incredibly, India have failed to defend targets in all three of their T20 World Cup knockout matches since then – in 2014 (lost to Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final), in 2016 (beat West Indies in the semi-final lost to by 7. wickets, and in 2022 (lost to England by 10 wickets in the semi-final).

Additionally, India’s only loss against Pakistan came in a T20 World Cup match in 2021 when the Men in Blue failed to defend a target of 152 runs and experienced bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar struggled. He suffered a 10-wicket defeat. To frustrate the Pakistani batsmen.

So it is safe to say that even the experienced Indian bowlers have struggled to perform at their best in tough conditions in ICC tournaments over the years. Also, Mayank has inexperience in India’s domestic circuit and one might wonder why there are big risks in picking the 21-year-old speedster.

Additionally, the senior Indian squad’s past experience of fast-tracking speedsters like Imran Malik on the back of strong IPL performances has not always worked.

Like Mayank, Imran Malik has been the talk of the town thanks to solid IPL performances, but after being selected for the national team, the Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler failed to live up to his billing and last played on the international stage last July. Seen in action. The year

The fact that there are only limited fast bowling spots does not help the case for Mayank Yadav’s inclusion in the T20 WC 2024 squad as it could prove costly for India, given his experience in domestic and international cricket. Given the lack of

India’s think tanks have also proven their worth at the T20 level in Arsdeep Singh, Awish Khan, and Deepak Chahar, to name a few. And while a raw talent like Mayank Yadav is bound to make a national splash soon, perhaps a handful of good performances to get him into the 2024 T20 squad is a step too far in his still fledgling career.