Mayank Yadav’s father, Prabhu Yadav, had sowed the seeds of fast bowling in his son’s head when he was only 14 years of age. The dream began when Prabhu, on his way back from work to home, saw Mayank bowl at Sonnet Club at the Venkateshwara college in Delhi.
A huge fan of West Indies pace bowling legend Curtly Ambrose, Prabhu told son Mayank to aim to intimidate and scare the batters by attacking their heads with bouncers and short balls. That’s what, Prabhu said, made Ambrose perhaps the most feared bowler of his time.
Mayank Yadav kept that little nugget in his mind all along, and, at the age of 21, he showed it to the world that he could really intimidate the batters. World-class and experienced batters like Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan found it difficult to score off him.
On his IPL debut, for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2024 against Punjab Kings, Mayank had one of the most memorable IPL debuts. It wasn’t as much his bowling figures of 3/27 – match-winning in its own cause – that are being talked about as much as his pace, bounce, and accuracy. Mayank bowled the fastest ball of the season, clocking at 155.8 KPH – among Indians, only Umran Malik has bowled faster in the IPL – and tormented the batters with his bounce and hit-the-deck bowling.
Speaking with The Indian Express, Mayank’s father, Prabhu, said, “I shared with him a story of Ambrose. Tujhe pata hai usse log darte kyu tey? kyunki wo sar pe daalta tha, tujhe darana hai batsmen ko toh wahi karna hoga (You know why he was feared because he used to hit them on their heads. If you want to put that fear in their minds you must start doing the same).
“Muhje Ambrose aur Walsh kaafi pasand they (I used to love Ambrose and Walsh). Ambrose more because of his pace and the way he used to bounce the batsmen. I used to keep telling him their stories.”
Mayank Yadav grew up idolizing Dale Steyn
Listening to stories of Ambrose and Walsh from his father, Mayank Yadav picked his own pace idol – none other than Dale Steyn, who too was vowed by his bowling on Saturday night. Mayank would banter with his own father.
“Was your Ambrose used to be as good as Steyn? He used to ask this and we developed a small rivalry on who is better, Ambrose or Steyn,” Prabhu added.
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