New Delhi: Ever since he burst onto the scene last weekend, Mayank Yadav has been the talk of the town. The young fast bowler has dominated the headlines since making an impactful debut and once again stole the limelight in his second IPL match. Mayank’s blistering pace has troubled the top international batters, who hopped and ducked but couldn’t save themselves from the wrath of Lucknow Super Giants’ fast bowler.

Mayank is the first bowler in the history of IPL to bag back-to-back awards in his first two matches. His combined figures (first two matches) 8-0-41-6 are a testament to his control despite his extreme pace. With a dot ball percentage of over 60 per cent, Mayank has dismissed some top-matches batters such as Jonny Bairstow, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green among others.

Accuracy, control and pace make him a lethal combination for the batters. But there might be a way to handle him or at least that’s what Matthew Hayden and Steve Smith believe.

Speaking exclusively to Star Sports on Cricket Live Show, Australia cricketer Steve Smith spoke on how teams should counter Mayank Yadav’s pace. He said “I don’t think he bowled a slower ball. They should be using the pace as much as they can to score behind the wicket and make him do something different.”

RCB also made the same plan. Mahipal Lomror revealed after the match that the team management had discussed on how to counter Mayank’s pace and using the pace was the unanimous answer. That didn’t work as RCB top-order was destroyed by Yadav, who showed impeccable control and accuracy to demolish the Challengers.

Former Australia and Chennai Super Kings opener Matthew Hayden believes that the batters need to allow the ball to come to bat.

“And the way you’ve to play someone of that pace is that you need to allow the ball to come to you. Not try to force it off the front foot or back foot. Just absorb the pressure and the ball will do the rest because the pace of the delivery”, said Hayden on the Cricket Live Show.

After bagging 3 for 27 against Punjab Kings on his IPL debut, Mayank Yadav conjured another magical performance against RCB by taking 3 wickets for just 14 runs in 4 overs.