Why LSG will be praying that Mayank Yadav doesn’t debut for India

At 11:07 PM and 11:22 PM on September 28 (Saturday), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) put out tweets celebrating the India call-up of one of their own, Mayank Yadav.

The second of the two tweets from LSG read, “India, welcome to 157 kmph 🔥💙”.

There is no question that LSG are genuinely stoked to see Mayank get a national call-up, but, deep down, the franchise will be hoping that the 22-year-old tearaway pacer does not make his India debut in the upcoming Bangladesh T20Is. In fact, they’ll be hoping that Mayank doesn’t debut for India until after the completion of the retention process for IPL 2025.

Why LSG will be hoping that Mayank Yadav doesn’t debut for India against Bangladesh

Nothing personal, of course. This is entirely down to the dynamics of the new retention policy.

On Saturday, the IPL confirmed that each franchise will mandatorily have to retain at least one uncapped player. For LSG, it’s a no-brainer that Mayank will be the uncapped player that they will be eyeing to retain.

Should Mayank remain uncapped for the next couple of months, the franchise will be able to retain the 22-year-old for just INR 4 crore (amount that will be deducted from the franchise’s auction purse for retaining an uncapped player).

However, things will get complicated if Mayank ends up getting capped in the Bangladesh series.

The speedster playing for India will mean LSG will no longer be able to retain him for INR 4 crore. Instead, they will have to treat him as one of their major retentions, meaning he will, at minimum, cost them INR 11 crore to be retained (ICYMI: the new retention slabs for capped players are 18 cr, 14 cr, 11 cr, 18 cr, 14 cr).

Otherwise the franchise will have to try and get back Mayank via the RTM (Right To Match). It goes without saying that should LSG try and acquire Mayank back via RTM, he will cost the franchise a fortune. The right-armer is the most in-demand uncapped player in the entire league and there’ll be at least half a dozen franchises trying to get their hands on him. Trying to get Mayank back via RTM might easily end up costing LSG more than INR 12 crore.

So if Mayank ends up debuting for India, the franchise will have to make a very crucial call: do they retain him for anywhere between INR 11 crore and INR 18 crore, or do they try and get him back using the RTM?

This headache, though, wouldn’t exist if the 22-year-old does not play in the Bangladesh series.

So for this very reason, LSG will be praying that Mayank Yadav doesn’t debut for India in the next couple of months.

Same scenario with Sunrisers Hyderabad & Nitish Kumar Reddy

Another franchise in the same uncomfortable situation as LSG are Sunrisers Hyderabad. Their gun uncapped player Nitish Kumar Reddy has also been picked in the India squad for the Bangladesh T20Is.

Nitish debuting will mean that SRH will not be able to retain the all-rounder for INR 4 crore. 

They, too, like LSG, will hope that their player warms the bench for India in the T20Is against Bangladesh.

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