Chennai Super Kings won the opener against Mumbai Indians by one wicket, thanks to splendid innings by Bravo who smashed the Mumbai Indians bowlers to all corners of the ground. He scored 68 off 30 deliveries that marked the return of the kings in style after serving a ban for two years.
Mayank Markande, the 20-year-old spinner stole the show with his unplayable leg-breaks and ended the match with figures 3/23. This is the second-best figures by a debutant for Mumbai Indians, surpassing Lasith Malinga”s 3/15 against the same opposition in 2009.
Who is Mayank Markande??
Getting the wickets of experienced batsmen like Rayudu and Dhoni in the first appearance is something he should cherish forever in his life. The batsmen found it really difficult to read his googlies and eventually succumbed to his “tricky” bowling.
The 20- year old bowler hails from Punjab and was a part of the U19 CWC squad in 2016.
He made his domestic circuit debut in 2017-18 Syed Mushtaq trophy and the recently concluded Vijay Hazare trophy. Hailing from Bathinda, Punjab the young star had always idolized the spin wizard, Shane Warne.
Mayank started his career as a pacer as he used to bowl back of the hand slower delivery in a peculiar style and great effect. His coach convinced him to switch to leg spin as googly is also bowled in the same manner.He was bought for a base price of 20 lakhs in the auctions.
The youngster also mentioned that he had received over “37 missed calls and 300 messages” on the day of the auction after he switched on his mobile on the day of the auction. He was busy playing a game for Punjab and he wasn”t able to rejoice the moment until Rahul Sanghvi, the manager of MI spoke to him over the phone to share this news.
With his prolific performances, Mayank has a greater prospect of making it to the senior teams as the demand for the leg/wrist spinners in overseas conditions is growing. Still, 13 more games left in the league stage of IPL, it will be interesting to see his approach towards the batsmen in the shortest format of the game.