Mayank Yadav Joins Hardik Pandya In Special List After Taking Wicket On 1st Ball In 3rd IND-BAN T20I

Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mayank Yadav, who made headlines in IPL 2024 for his express pace, played his first T20I for India against Bangladesh on October 6 in Gwalior and then managed to retain his place for the next two matches as well. In the absence of Arshdeep Singh, the 22-year-old Delhi-based pacer got a chance to open the bowling attack for the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team in the third T20I, and on the very first ball of the run chase, he picked up a wicket for India. The right-arm pacer accounted for the dismissal of Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon, who was caught by Riyan Parag.

By dismissing Emon for a golden duck, Mayank joined a special list of Indian players. He became only the fourth Indian bowler after Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya to take a wicket on the first ball of the opposition team innings.

While Arshdeep and Pandya have managed to dismiss the opposition batter only once on the first ball, Bhuvneshwar has achieved the feat three times in 87 T20Is played so far.

In the third T20I against Bangladesh, Mayank finished with figures of 2 for 32 in four overs. Apart from him, Ravi Bishnoi picked up three wickets for 30 runs in four overs, and one Bangladeshi batter each was sent back to the pavilion by Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

After impressing with his performances in the debut series against Bangladesh, Mayank was included as one of the four reserve players for the three-match Test series against New Zealand.

India will face New Zealand in three Tests in front of home fans. The series opener is scheduled to take place at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru from October 16, and the next two matches will be played in Pune (October 24-28) and Mumbai (November 1-5).

Mayank is reportedly also in line to find a place in India’s Test squad for the five-match series against Australia, which starts on November 22 in Perth.