Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 31 (ANI): Ahead of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) IPL campaign opener against Delhi Capitals (DC), LSG head coach Justin Langer said that pacers Mayank Yadav and Naman Tiwari are fit to play and praised them as “exciting prospects”.
LSG will be starting their IPL 2026 against the Delhi Capitals at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on Wednesday. The side features a vast Indian fast bowling talent pool, headlined by legendary Mohammed Shami, also including names like Mayank, Naman, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav and Arjun Tendulkar.
Speaking on Naman and Mayank, Langer said, “Yeah, they are both fit. They are both very exciting prospects. And they have got huge futures.”
Mayank is the most exciting of LSG’s pacers, rising to stardom with his scorching deliveries in the IPL 2024. What stood out was his control on line and length while consistently bowling near 150 clicks or above that. However, his career in both IPL and international colours has been interrupted by injuries.
He has played six IPL games for LSG over two seasons, taking nine wickets at an average of 20.55, with best figures of 3/14. He has also taken four wickets in three T20Is for India with an average of 20.75 and best figures of 2/32. Mayank could play only two matches in 2025 during the IPL before an injury sidelined him for the entire year again and returned to action to represent India A in warm-up matches ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup this year.
Naman was also among the top wicket-takers in the 2024 ICC U19 WC, during which India finished runners-up. He took 12 wickets in six matches at an average of 19.83, with two four-wicket hauls. Naman’s last competitive outings came in the UPT20 League 2024, taking four wickets in six outings, and he is yet to make his professional cricket debut at the senior level.
Langer spoke of his team’s fast bowling talent, saying, “The beautiful thing that we have got for this tournament, which we have not had in the past, is we have not only those two young bowlers, but we also have Mohsin Khan, we have Avesh Khan, we have got Mohammed Shami, we have got Akash Singh, we have got Anrich Nortje from South Africa, who else have I missed, we have got Arjun Tendulkar, we have got all these guys who are fit. So we have to work out tomorrow which players are going to fit the puzzle to play on this red soil wicket.”
Squads:
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Shahbaz Ahmed, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje, Prince Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Mohammed Shami, Matthew Breetzke, Josh Inglis, Himmat Singh, Mukul Choudhary, Arshin Kulkarni, Naman Tiwari, Arjun Sachin Tendulkar, Manimaran Siddharth, Mayank Prabhu Yadav, Akash Maharaj Singh
Delhi Capitals Squad: KL Rahul(w), Prithvi Shaw, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Dushmantha Chameera, Kyle Jamieson, T Natarajan, Lungi Ngidi, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana, Karun Nair, Pathum Nissanka, Sahil Parakh, Sameer Rizvi, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Nabi Dar, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Jadav Mandal. (ANI)
