“We’ve had some interesting conversation around his roadmap to recovery and fitness with NCA, so we’re working with them,” Zaheer told reports in Lucknow on Tuesday. “We hope for their support as well, them buying into the philosophy of really looking after a youngster, because he’s not only important for LSG, he’s important for Indian cricket as well.”
Mayank had an injury-ridden 2024, interspersed by fiery showings for LSG and India. He won Player of the Match in two of his first three games at IPL 2024, for searing spells of 150kph-plus pace, but then in his fourth game he walked off with an abdominal issue that ruled him out of the tournament. He began rehab at the NCA and recovered from that injury, but then he picked up a separate injury while bowling at the NCA.
Zaheer said conditioning him physically to stand up to the workload of bowling at such speeds, without repeatedly breaking down, was his main priority. “You know a bowler of his calibre, to be able to play consistently for the long term, that’s where I’m trying to put in all my efforts and energy, in terms of giving him the best environment which will really help him play longer without really taking these breaks. I think that’s really important and that’s the outlook which we have.
“So as much as we are keen on having him [play IPL 2025], we want him 150% fit not just 100% fit so we’ll do everything possible to get him there.”
Coach Langer spoke on the same lines, pointing out that it often takes a young fast bowler – Mayank is 22 – time for their developing body to settle and shrug off injuries. “We know how exciting he is, we watched that last year… Some of that pace last year was extreme pace, so we’re very hopeful but he’s a young fast bowler, and it doesn’t matter what country you’re from, it’s a hard business being able to bowl that pace, and with a young body, it’s going to take some time to develop. So we’re hopeful and positive, but we’ll wait and see how things progress over the next little piece.”
“I have no doubt the kind of player he is, I hope he stays as expressive when he captains,” Zaheer said. “We want to imbibe those values within the team as well. When we were looking at him as captain, we were looking at a kind of flavour LSG should play. We hope LSG approach their cricket the same way Rishabh plays his cricket.”
“I believe in T20 cricket, most important person in the team is the captain. If I’m selecting a team, the No. 1 person is captain so we’re thrilled to have Rishabh, with his style of play,” Langer said. “We’re going to be on the edge of our seat. It’s going to be exciting to be watch, he’s got something different not many have. He has this freedom, talent, and a way about him where he’s going have a real impact as captain and player.”
