IPL 2024: Who is Yash Thakur? - Everything You Need to Know About LSG's five-for hero

Lucknow Super Giants bowlers came good during the game against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, April 7. Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi decimated the GT batters to dent their unit. 

Young Yash Thakur came to the fore and showed why he is considered one of the best young talents in India. The pacer set the ball rolling with the wicket of Shubman Gill to give LSG the key breakthrough. 

This was followed by the wickets of Vijay Shankar and Rashid Khan in the same over to tilt the game in their favour. It isn’t the first time that Yash Thakur has become the talk of the town in IPL cricket. 

Yash Thakur, a bowler with the ability to hit pin-point Yorkers

Lucknow Super Giants had scouted well when they decided to pay INR 45 lakh for Yash Thakur during the IPL 2023 auctions. The youngster made his IPL debut against CSK and went wicketless for 36 runs from his four overs.

All that faith paid off yet again on Sunday when Yash Thakur broke the backbone of GT's batting.  His figures of 5/30 were the best figures of IPL 2024 till the end of the 21st game. It was also his first fifer in T20 format and it was a great occasion to achieve the feat. It also helped LSG register their first win against the Titans in IPL. 

Yash Thakur didn’t have to wait long for his first wicket in the league. Rahul Tripathi was his debut scalp when LSG played SRH at home. The biggest moment for Yash Thakur came during his third IPL game when Lucknow played Punjab Kings in Mohali.

The right-arm pacer dismissed Sikandar Raza and Jitesh Sharma and followed it up with the wickets of Rahul Chahar and Shahrukh Khan. This gave Yash Thakur his best bowling figures of 4/37 and made him an instant star. 

More was yet to come as Thakur played a pivotal role in LSG’s close win over Mumbai Indians by five runs. The wickets of Suryakumar Yadav and Vishnu Vinod turned the tide towards the home side. This was followed by two wickets against KKR before picking 3/34 in the eliminator. 

In the domestic circuit, Yash Thakur plays for Vidarbha along with the likes of Umesh Yadav, Darshan Nalkande, and Jitesh Sharma. In 22 first-class games, Thakur has picked 67 wickets with a best of 5/44. In the List A format, Yash Thakur has picked 54 wickets from 37 games with figures of 5/53 as his best. It is the T20 format where has done well and picked 69 wickets from 48 games with a best of 4/5 and an economy rate of 7.3.

With so much fast bowling talent in India, the ability to hit the yorkers with ease makes Yash Thakur stand out. The 25-year-old may have to do a lot to make it to the Indian team but if he can continue his form, the top level may not be out of reach.