There’s something fairly endearing about hit-the-deck pacers. Whereas new-ball bowlers entice wickets with their guile and craft, the middle-over enforcers are sometimes dealt a tricky hand, particularly within the 50-over format.
With little to no motion after the primary PowerPlay and the four-fielders-outside-the-circle rule, they’re left with little or no room to manoeuvre. This predicament has compelled them to replenish their arsenal with quite a lot of quick balls and cutters, hoping to capitalise on the batter’s mistake.
Carving a distinct segment on this journey of recalibration is Vidarbha’s Yash Thakur. Constant performances throughout all home codecs have resulted in call-ups to the Duleep Trophy and India A, nudging him to the doorstep of the nationwide aspect.
The change that sparked a profession
Sport has all the time been a welcome visitor within the Thakur family. Yash’s father, Ravi Singh Thakur, was a State-level judoka throughout his heyday, dabbling in slightly little bit of karate and cricket on the aspect.
Yash started his formative steps in sport not on the sector, however on the mat, practising Wushu. After three years of indulgence, the place he even bagged a silver medal in a State-level tourney, an incident modified the course of his journey.
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Throughout a district match, Yash had knocked his opponent out to seal victory. When his dad returned residence to ship the information, he was met by concern quite than confelicity from his mom, Kajal Thakur, who feared in the future her son might additionally meet with the identical destiny. There ended his pursuit of the martial artwork type.
Yash needed to discover a totally different solution to harness his unbridled vitality. Happily, the reply lay only a stone’s throw away from residence on the Praveen Hinganikar Cricket Academy.
Cricketing affect
“Each little one desires to play cricket. I used to play gully cricket as a child. I used to be watching a cricket membership from my terrace. I made a decision to enroll myself there,” stated Yash in a dialog with Sportstar.
“I’m an enormous admirer of M.S. Dhoni. I began as a wicketkeeper. I bowled as soon as on the membership for ‘time go’. My coach stated I’ve an amazing future in bowling. So, I made a decision similar to he does with the bat, I’ll end matches with the ball for my group,” he added.
Yash was chosen to signify Vidarbha within the Underneath-16s, however didn’t play a single match. His first yr with the U-19s additionally noticed solely a solitary look. Since then, he has been an ever-present. It was throughout this climb up the ladder that Yash met India pacer Umesh Yadav, who proved to be his biggest inspiration with the ball in hand.
“It was a dream come true second for me,” the 27-year-old reminisced. “It was on my first day on the VCA facility in Nagpur. He had come to observe. I began following him, his work ethic. I began taking bowling much more critically after that,” he defined.
Yash Thakur has been representing Vidarbha since making his Listing A debut in 2016-17 season.
| Picture Credit score:
R.V. MOORTHY
Yash Thakur has been representing Vidarbha since making his Listing A debut in 2016-17 season.
| Picture Credit score:
R.V. MOORTHY
Rubbing shoulders with the perfect
Yash has been across the Vidarbha senior group since his Listing A debut within the 2016/17 season. His ascent picked up velocity when he was purchased by the Lucknow Tremendous Giants (LSG) for Rs. 45 lakh. He performed 19 video games throughout his first two seasons, selecting up 24 wickets.
“I obtained to see many gamers from up shut throughout the IPL. It’s an expertise in itself if you end up studying from these you admired as soon as. Cricket is a recreation the place you study one thing new day by day,” the pacer stated. “I wasn’t anticipating to play when LSG purchased me in 2023, however they backed me proper from the beginning. It was nice to share a dressing room with Gauti [Gautam Gambhir] bhai and Ok.L. [Rahul] bhai.
The 2025 public sale earned him a much bigger payday as he was snapped up by the Punjab Kings for Rs. 1.6 crore. He obtained to play solely two matches by the season, however Yash says there have been countable issues to select from that atmosphere.
“When you could have an amazing captain in Shreyas Iyer and an amazing coach [Ricky Ponting] who was top-of-the-line leaders ever on the planet, their successful mindset retains your complete group constructive,” he stated. “From day one on the camp to the ultimate, our solely mantra was to raise the trophy. Dropping a recreation by no means ruined our group’s confidence and ambiance,” he added.
Yash is on the previous couple of laps of the race to understand a lifelong dream. He is aware of he’s nearly there, however he isn’t one to stress about it and lose momentum.
“The top aim is clearly to play for India, however I’m not eager about that. I’m in fine condition. I’m simply following my course of, simply how my physique reacts and following that route. I’m simply taking one step at a time,” the bowler stated.
The choice to persuade her son to show away from a sparring sport may need stemmed from a second of motherly protectiveness, however inadvertently, Kajal has aided the rise of a robust contender for the repeatedly mentioned hit-the-deck bowling possibility, particularly within the One-Day format.
Printed on Jan 02, 2026