IPL 2018: 'Mayank Markande, who?' impresses on IPL debut

What is common between Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and his brother Krunal, Nitish Rana, Saurabh Tiwary and now Mayank Markande?

All these come from Mumbai Indians' stable and have earned their stripes through IPL.

If Mumbai Indians gave the perfect launching pad to the Bumrahs, the Pandyas, the Nitish Ranas and Saurabh Tiwarys to showcase their talents, Saturday night was the perfect time for Markande to display his.

But, the first question asked was "Markande, who?" as Mumbai unveiled their playing XI against Chennai on Saturday.

Even a famous cricket website which stores data of all players struggled with information on Markande stating him just a 'bowler' instead of leg-spinner.

A few hours and three wickets (including Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni) later, Markandey was the most talked-about on the day.

The 20-year-old leg-spinner from Punjab impressed one and all with his crafty, modern-day leg-spin when he gave CSK big blows by scalping Rayudu and Dhoni in identical ways to bring down visitors for 51/4 before Dwayne Bravo did the turn around. 

Markande finished with 3/23 in four overs.

"I thought he bowled brilliantly, we backed him when we saw him first at our camp. We knew that he was special. He came for two trial games for us. We backed our youngsters. We knew that this is the year we had to do that. The stadium was packed against Chennai and he bowled well, I am pleased for him," Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene said of Markande.

Asked what made him so impressive, the former Sri Lanka captain said: "I think it is the accuracy. He is quite accurate and probably a bit different to a normal leg-spinner as well. The way he delivers the ball, the control he has with his variations, and he is very confident for a guy who has not played much T20 cricket. His attitude is great and we want to back those guys, give them an opportunity and see what happens."

Born in Bhatinda, Markande was bought for his base price of Rs 20 lakh during the auctions while he was playing an U-23 game for Punjab. By the time he finished his match, he had 37 missed calls and 300 messages from his well wishers, but he didn't believe them till he got a call from Mumbai Indians' official Rahul Sanghvi.

Markande started his cricket with an aspiration to become a pacer, but his lack of pace and physique forced his coaches to turn him into a spinner, which eventually helped him make the higher level.

Even his Punjab head coach, former India wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra was impressed with his performance on Saturday. "He has taken opportunity with both hands. In T20s and one-dayers, the way he bowled, he got us wickets at very crucial junctures. In Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20), he bowled in Power Plays as well. And being a leg-spinner, he is very accurate," said Ratra.

Ratra gave Punjab captain and CSK player Harbhajan Singh the credit for giving Markande a platform to showcase his talent. "A lot of credit goes to Harbhajan Singh as well. He was very keen to make him play. He impressed us in the practice games and during one-dayers and T20 camps," Ratra said.

KNOW MARKANDE

Full name: Mayank Markande
Born: November 11, 1997, Bathinda, Punjab
Major teams: India U-19, Punjab U-19, Punjab U-23, Mumbai Indians
Bowling style: Leg-spin
Batting style: Right-hand bat
List A debut: Punjab vs Haryana, Feb 7, 2018
T20 debut: Punjab vs J&K, Jan 14, 2018

M ZONE

5 No. of wickets Mayank Markande took in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s for Punjab in four matches earlier this year. In 6 Vijay Hazare Trophy inter-state tournament tournaments, he has 10 scalps