New Delhi: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer provided a major update on the fitness of their express bowler Mayank Yadav, after the team registered a nail-biting 12-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Lucknow on Friday.

The win was scripted by an already depleted bowling attack which led Langer to talk about their premium pacer post-match.

Langer said that Mayank is “up and running” and is currently bowling at “90 to 95%” at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (earlier the NCA) in Bengaluru, as he saw in a video. Yadav has been recovering from a back and a tow injury and Langer is hopeful of having the quick in the squad soon, but the Aussie didn’t have a timeline to share.

“What I do know is he’s working very hard at the NCA, and I saw some video of him bowling yesterday (Thursday) and he was bowling at about 90 to 95%. So Mayank’s up and running, which is really great for Indian cricket, for IPL. We saw the impact he had last year,” Langer said at the post-match press conference.

Langer credited the NCA for their work on the LSG pacers which got them back in the squad to feature in the games that lie ahead. “NCA, to their credit, have obviously done a very good job because they’ve got Avesh Khan back for us, they’ve got our Akash Deep back for us. So we really appreciate the work they’re doing to get the boys back playing and now hopefully Mayank as well,” Langer added.

Recent toe injury

The last time Langer was heard speaking of Mayank Yadav, he had expressed hope that the fast bowler will be available for the “back-end” of the tournament. Mayank was on course to recover from a back injury then, but his return had been pushed back by “a week or two” when he accidentally stubbed his toe against his bed and picked up an infection in the affected area.

At the start of the IPL 2025, LSG had a severely depleted bowling attack, with Mohsin Khan, Mayank, Akash Deep, and Avesh all recovering from injuries. The team roped in Shardul Thakur once Mohsin was ruled out of the season and have since had Avesh and Akash Deep return for them one by one.