The Indian selectors recently announced the squads for the home ODI and T20I series against Australia. In the T20I squad, a new name surfaced. Mayank Markande, who represented Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League last year, earned his maiden call-up in India’s T20 international side.
The young leg-spinner had put up an impressive show in the last IPL season. He had picked up 15 wickets that put him on the map. For his recent performances in the India A setup, he earned his selection.
Mayank Markande named Rohit Sharma the player who motivated him during the IPL stint in 2018. Rohit, the captain of Mumbai Indians backed the youngster throughout the tournament and he responded with brilliant results.
“Sharing the Indian dressing room with Rohit Sharma will be special. He had motivated me a lot during the IPL. I always kept talking to him. He is a legend of the game now so I always try to learn as much as possible from him,” Markande was quoted as saying to the reporters.
Picked Mayank Markande as a backup spinner: MSK Prasad
MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors mentioned that Mayank Markande was picked in the side as a backup spinner. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are India’s frontline spinners in white ball cricket. Now that Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are kept specifically for the longest format of the game, the selectors have looked for other options.
“We are looking at Markande as a backup spinner. We have been grooming him though India A process and today also he picked up a five-wicket haul. So, we want to look at him and he’ll be a backup spinner,” said Prasad.
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