Follow UsLucknow Super Giants coach Justin Langer was all praise for BCCI's Centre of Excellence [earlier called the National Cricket Academy (NCA)] in Bengaluru. The former Australian cricketer could not thank the institution enough as it got ready two of the four primarily pace bowlers of his team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
“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 said in the post-match press conference after his team's win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 4 (Friday).
Before the start of IPL 2025, LSG had all four of its primary Indian pacers - Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav and Akash Deep - facing injury issues. Three of them - Mayank, Akash and Avesh-were in Bengaluru at the Centre of Excellence facility.
However, after Mohsin was ruled out, they got Shardul Thakur into the side and, over the course of their first four games, have got Avesh and Akash back as well.
Mayank would also have been back in the mix sooner than now had his toe not been infected while he was recovering from a back injury.
Talking about the pace merchant’s recovery, Langer said, "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. I don't think there's been a bowler in India who's bowled faster than Mayank Yadav. That's why there's so much talk about him,” added Langer.