Lucknow Super Giants fast bowler Mayank Yadav has been ruled out of the IPL 2025 season after sustaining another back injury, with William O’Rourke named as a replacement.

Mayank Yadav was one of the players LSG retained ahead of the mega auction.

Returning to competitive cricket for the first time since October 2024, Mayank played only two matches in the tournament against the Mumbai Indians and the Punjab Kings before the IPL 2025 was suspended due to cross-border tension between India and Pakistan.

His high pace has impressed the national selectors and accuracy earned him a special fast bowler’s contract with the BCCI last year.

Soon he picked a back injury that made him miss the 2024-25 domestic season after his international debut. He was recovering at BCCI‘s centre of excellence in Bengaluru.

But his return was pushed back after he stubeed his toe against his bed leading to an infection. Upon his return, he was a much slower bowler clocking speeds in the high 130 kph and only occasionally breaching the 140 kph mark.

The IPL stint with LSG will be O’Rourke’s first experience in the T20 franchise circuit. He has five wickets in five T20Is for New Zealand after his debut against Pakistan last year.

He will be joining the franchise for INR 3 crore, hoping he can contribute right away as they strive for a good finish in the second half of the tournament.

Overall, he has played ten times in Tests and 17 times in ODIs apart from his five T20I appearances.

Lucknow Super Giants has five wins out of 11 games and secured seventh place in the IPL 2025 points table. Lucknow has three matches to play in the league stages against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.