Mumbai Indians has a habit of unearthing little-known spinners. It was the first to spot Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, though the trio found success with other franchises. It is now the turn of leg-spinner Mayank Markande to be in the news for Mumbai Indians as the team, after three defeats in four matches, looks to redeem its reputation as a three-time winner of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Mumbai Indians meets Rajasthan Royals at the SMS Stadium here on Sunday with the host playing its sixth match — three losses and two wins. It could turn out to be a critical contest for both teams at this stage of the tournament.
“It’s a fresh team,” said Mumbai Indians batting coach Robin Singh on Rajasthan Royals. “It’s a new game, they have a good side. It’s important to make sure that we focus on what we want to do.
“They’re coming out of back-to-back losses which I’m pretty sure will put some pressure on them. They had a really bad loss against Chennai,” he added.
Markande, along with leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and left-arm Anukul Roy, carries the responsibility of strengthening the hands of the established bowlers in the team.
In fact, the last four matches have shown Markande as a key component of the Mumbai Indians attack.
Spells of 4-0-23-3 and 4-0-23-4 against Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad have brought Markande into the limelight. He has a vicious googly which is well concealed and used appropriately. He got Ambati Rayudu with a third-ball googly and then foxed M.S. Dhoni with a wily wrong one too.
Markande called the shots against Hyderabad by snaring Wriddhiman Saha with a similar delivery, beat Shikhar Dhawan with turn and Manish Pandey by flight. He then learnt some hard lessons when Delhi Daredevils’ Jason Roy and Rishabh Pant gave him the stick.
On a turf that has allowed the spinners to feel at home, Markande could play a vital role against Rajasthan Royals, which came a cropper against Kolkata Knight Riders here last Wednesday.
For Rajasthan, off-spinner K, Gowtham and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal would need to raise their game to provide teeth to the attack. It could well turn out to be a battle of spinners on Sunday.
