Mayank Yadav’s Harare Heroics Reignite Asian Games Selection Debate

Mayank Yadav’s telling blows caught one’s attention in the three-match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe. While the attention in the series was anchored on the 15-year-old find in left-hander Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the express fast bowler Yadav who was laid low by injuries, treatment, recovery and rehabilitation for close to 22 months also drew much of the attention. After a three- match series against Bangladesh in October 2024, Yadav was treated for injuries related to a lumbar stress fracture, lower back injuries, side strain and also elbow and toe issues. So different parts of the body were non-functional, but the selection committee — recognising a rare talent who could bowl in excess of 150 kmph — placed their faith in the fast bowler for three engagements in Harare. In four days, Yadav spearheaded the men in blue attack — in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana — sending down 11 overs, not bowling the fourth in the second match. He struck in the first ball of his return to international games, removing opener Brian Bennett, and went on to take five wickets at 6.55 an over, virtually choking Zimbabwe in the first six-over power play. Clearly he had been looked after at the BCCI’s Cricket for Excellence facility in Bengaluru over the last 22 months. Yadav can turn out to be a match-winner in the shortest format, but he is not in the Indian team for the Asian Games in Japan, where Bumrah, Arshdeep, Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy are expected to play their parts. But Reddy is down with a left quadriceps injury, and Rana with a Grade 1 hamstring niggle, and there could be an opening for Yadav to get in for the Asian Games squad.