He had already missed LSG's first nine games in IPL 2025.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pace sensation Mayank Yadav, who made a comeback after nursing a back injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025), has once again been ruled out. Notably, Mayank was absent for LSG’s first nine games and after that, he could only feature in just two games before the season got suspended for a week due to border tensions between India and Pakistan.
Now, ahead of the IPL 2025 restart on May 17, it is understood that Mayank’s back injury has resurfaced again, prompting LSG to name a replacement in New Zealand pacer Will O’Rourke for the remainder of the season at his reserve price of INR 3 crores. The news was confirmed via an official media release on the IPL website.
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Mayank, who made headlines last season for clocking speeds north of 150 kph constantly, seemed to be struggling IPL 2025. This time around, the INR 11 crore LSG retention couldn’t do an encore and his pace visibly dropped in the two games he played.
On the other hand, Will O’Rourke will be a solid addition to the LSG roster as he is already familiar with subcontinent pitches. He made a telling impact when he toured India in the Test series last year, causing the Indian batters problems with his pace and steep bounce. O’Rourke has a natural ability to hit the deck hard and can extract more out of the wicket than quite a few others.
In 38 T20 matches, Will O’Rourke has picked up 37 wickets at an economy rate of 7.80.
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