IPL 2018: Sensational Mayank Markande wasn't a spinner to start with

He was 10 when the Indian Premier League (IPL) got underway in 2008. In the auction a decade later three-time champions Mumbai Indians signed up the young leg-spinner to add variety to the attack. Mayank Markande managed to impress most with his bowling in the nets and during practice matches and as a result was the uncapped player in Mumbai’s XI for the season opener.

He is more of a traditional leg-spinner with little mystery around his bowling but the batsmen found it tough to pick Markande. Even the seasoned ones like MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu fell to him early on in their innings. The debut soon turned into a dream game for the 20-year-old as he picked up three wickets in his 4 overs and though MI lost the match he grabbed a lot of attention.

In the following match against Sunrisers Hyderabad he bettered himself and bagged a 4-wicket haul. He also briefly held the Purple cap. After three matches, he has 7 wickets with an unbelievable average of 12.57 and Markande is already a sensation in the league. His coach Mahesh Inder Singh remembers that the guy wasn’t even a spinner to start with.

When Bikram Sharma took his son Mayank to Mahesh in Patiala the 8-year-old bowled seam up. The coach observed that he had naturally developed a slower delivery that he delivered from the back of his hand and used his wrists to great effect. That prompted him to mould the boy into a leg-spinner.

“I spoke to his father and asked him if he was fine if we tried to mould him into a leg spinner. His father asked me to take charge of his ward and we started the process to teach the kid how to bowl leg breaks. His wrists are so flexible that he doesn’t need to put in any extra effort to bowl the googlies. He developed an interest in leg spin bowling and that’s how his focus shifted,” Singh said while talking to CricketNext.

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