India’s pace sensation Mayank Yadav peppered the speed guns on his international debut, clocking close to 150 km/h in the first T20I against Bangladesh in Gwalior. He hurried the Bangladesh batters with his sheer pace and bounce. What was even more impressive was his lengths – short but not short enough for the batters to line up for the horizontal-bat shots.
Mayank started his international career with a maiden and then even got the wicket of veteran all-rounder Mahmudullah in his next over and if the initial show was anything to go by, then it did appear that Bangladesh batters are in for a hard time in the remaining two matches of the series.
However, ask Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto about the same and you would get a very different reply. Shanto said they are used to facing such speed in the nets. “We have some similar fast bowlers in the nets. I don’t think we were too worried about (Mayank Yadav). But he is a good bowler,” he said after India won the first T20I by 7 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The current Bangladesh T20I squad does not have an out-and-out fast bowler apart from Taskin Ahmed, who clocks speeds of 140+ regularly. But in the Test squad, they did have young Nahid Rana, who nudged the 150 km/h mark.
