MI’S Markande living a dream
MOHALI: Mayank Markande is living a dream. But for Dwayne Bravo’s late and unexpected assault, the young leg-spinner from Patiala would have won the match with his bowling for MI.
The 20-year-old’s stats tell you the story: 4-0-23-3, including the prized wicket of MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu. Even though Mumbai Indians lost the game to Chennai Super Kings, Mayank was hailed for his stunning bowling and ended up trending on social media. The most happy was his coach Mahesh Inder Singh in Chandigarh. “He called up in the morning and was thrilled to have bowled like that and gotten Dhoni’s wicket. It was wonderful to see him get the backing of senior cricketers in the Mumbai Indians team especially captain Rohit Sharma.
“He is geared up for the upcoming games and I am sure there are more such performances in the offing. Getting Dhoni’s wicket on a googly was the highlight of his debut spell for him,” said Mahesh Inder Singh, a former Punjab Ranji Trophy cricketer and also the father of former Indian cricketer Reetinder Singh Sodhi. He has been coaching Mayank at his academy. At the toss itself, Rohit had heaped praised on the young spinner. Mayank was bought by Mumbai Indians for ~20 lakh in the IPL auction.
He had impressed the Mumbai Indians scouts during one of the trials held in Mumbai in January. Interestingly, he was not keeping a tab on the auction and it was one of his friends who called him up to tell about his selection. “I was not expecting to be picked in the auction. I was surprised to know that I was bought by Mumbai Indians,” Mayank had said earlier. Mayank, who idolises Australian legend Shane Warne, snared Ambati Rayudu (22), MS Dhoni (5) and Deepak Chahar, deceiving all three with googles.