When all the world is talking about the emerging pace sensation Mayank Yadav, Lucknow Super Giants' pacer Yash Thakur has made some significant contributions to the team and has become a key part of the playing XI.
The pacer from Vidarbha is the leading wicket-taker for Super Giants in the ongoing season with nine wickets in seven games. His best bowling spell of the season came against the runners-up of the previous edition Gujarat Titans while playing at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Yash's five-for was the first-ever five-wicket haul of the season and came while defending a total of 163. The 25-year-old broke the back of Titans by picking up the wickets of Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar and Rahul Tewatia.
He then came to the back end to get rid of Rashid Khan to jolt the Titans again and completed his five-for by taking the wicket of Noor Ahmad.
Yash is a very skiddy pacer and often flies under the radar. He can generate a decent pace while on song and has also developed slower ones to deceive batters.
Yash has had an impressive T20 career thus far. The Kolkata-born has bagged 77 wickets in just 53 games at an average of 17.40 and only conceded runs at a decent economy rate of 7.64.
The Vidarbha pacer has snared four four-wicket hauls and one five-for in his T20 playing career so far.
Impressed by his stint in the domestic circuit, Lucknow Super Giants roped Yash into their squad after paying Rs 45 lakhs before the IPL 2023 season and therefore this is Yash's second season with Lucknow in the cash-rich league.
Yash's IPL debut came after toiling hard in the Ranji Trophy where he brought plenty of success to Vidarbha by leading their pace battery often in the absence of the spearhead of their pace attack, Umesh Yadav.
With Lucknow having already accumulated 10 points, a place in the playoffs is on the cards for them and Yash will play a key role if it is to come to fruition.
