Mayank Yadav confirms availability for IPL 2026, shares learnings from Shami & Bumrah

Mayank Yadav has confirmed that he’ll be available for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. The speedster had suffered an injury during the last season, which has kept him out. In August last year, Mayank travelled to Christchurch and underwent back surgery. He’s been recovering at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru since.

Mayank Yadav to play IPL & domestic cricket

Just a few days after the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) retained him for INR 11 crore, Mayank has confirmed that he’ll be available for the IPL 2026 season from the get-go. Predicted to be out for 6-8 months, the express pacer has started bowling in the nets.

“I’ve started bowling and my recovery is going well. So far, so good. I’ve worked a lot on my fitness. In the upcoming season, I’ll be available from day one,” Mayank told the Times of India. “It’s a huge thing for me that the franchise and its owner have shown trust in me. Their backing gave me the confidence to recover faster,” he said on getting retained.

Mayank is expected to recover before the second leg of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, which is scheduled to commence in late January next year. The pacer from Delhi has set himself one goal: to play more matches since he’s been out of action for the last two years.

“I’ve set myself only one goal — to play more and more games. That’s the only thing I’ve been missing for the last two years or so. Yes. If I’m able to play a couple of matches before the IPL, it will be good for me,” Mayank added.

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Interactions with Shami & Bumrah

Due to his trysts with injuries, Mayank has been at the CoE for the last two years. During this time, he has met with some other fast bowlers, including Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. The former needed more than a year to recover from his knee injury, while the latter has had back injuries like Mayank.

Mayank spent significant time with Shami and asked him questions. At the time, neither knew they would be bowling together at LSG soon, as Shami was traded by the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“I’ve known him for the last one and a half years, when I was with him in rehab and NCA. I had a chat with Shami bhai about my bowling and how to go about things in the future. It will be very exciting to bowl with him and learn from him,” said Mayank.

The express pacer had travelled to New Zealand and used the same surgeon Bumrah did, Dr. Rowan Schouten, for his back surgery. That’s why having Bumrah by his side at the CoE earlier in the year was beneficial for Mayank. He shared how the veteran pacer has been giving him tips about injury management.

“I learnt to understand my body more. Bumrah bhaiyya (Jasprit Bumrah) was here last year, before the IPL. I had a lot of good chats with him because he also went through the same surgery. He shared a lot of things with me about injury management,” he concluded.

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