Mayank Yadav burst onto the scene as an ace pacer in IPL 2024, but it was more so than wickets he made that would give any reason to talk—about the pace. More so than wickets he has won, it's that kind of pace where he regularly cracks 150 kmph+ marks and soon got regarded as India's bowling star of the future. So much so that many cricket experts even requested the Indian team management to consider him for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. However, the Delhi-born cricketer was ruled out of IPL 2024 after just four matches. He soon went to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and spent almost six months there to regain full fitness. He came back to professional cricket in the series against Bangladesh and played two matches, picked up three wickets, and injured himself once again. And again, no one knows when Mayank will come back. Also Read | Watch: Ravi Bopara Smashes Robin Uthappa for Six 6s in an Over in Hong Kong Sixes Tournament Despite the fitness issues, the Lucknow Super Giants retained the pacer for INR 11 crore. The third retention was for this player, as the plan will be to build the whole bowling attack around Mayank. Speaking about the reason why such a risky retention took place, co-owner Shashwat Goenka said that his injury issues were not the deciding factors but what he brings on the table. Here is what Goenka told The Times of India “The way you look at it, when a player is playing a match, is he able to contribute to a win? I think Mayank fits that bill perfectly. He played in four games last season and picked up seven wickets. That itself shows the potential of the individual. If you look at other players with similar backgrounds, when they first started off, they were injury-prone as well, and they had to work on their fitness, if I can put it that way,” “So that (injury) wasn’t the deciding factor; it was about when he plays, what is the contribution he makes to the game and to LSG. That was the guiding principle behind keeping him,” he added.