My First IPL Match: A midnight call, Rohit’s 'bindaas' advice and THAT Dhoni wicket — Mayank Markande relives 'life changing' debut

It’s the ninth over of the CSK innings. MS Dhoni is at the crease facing his fifth ball of the innings. Mayank Markande, at the other end, is about to bowl the ninth ball of his IPL career. He’s already opened his wickets account off his third ball. The look on his face is intense, that of a wolf eyeing up its prey, as he gets ready to bowl. Markande was just seven when Dhoni made his international debut and now here he was bowling to one of the legends of the game inside the Wankhede Cauldron in front 30,000-odd. Dhoni had used his feet off the first two balls he had faced of Markande and taken them on the full. But this time the young leg spinner senses he will play it on the back foot. He sets off in his run-up and flips it from the back of hand, this time it’s not too full, it’s about the perfect length ball. It pitches outside off and zips in. Dhoni is caught in two minds. He doesn’t have the time to come forward so he stays back and looks to tuck but is beaten by the turn and pace. The ball sneaks through and hits his back leg. Markande straightaway sets off in an appeal. Umpire Chris Gaffaney remains unmoved. Even before the shock of the decision engulfs MI and Wankhede and Gaffaney gets another chance to ponder, Rohit opts for the review. [caption id=“attachment_8338081” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Mayank Markande appeals for an LBW against MS Dhoni in 2018 IPL. Image courtesy: Mayank Markande/Facebook[/caption] The next few minutes are pure nerves for Markande, players and the owners. Then the replay flashes on the big screen. It’s crashing into middle and leg. Three reds. The crowd erupts. Blip. Markande’s mind goes blank. “Wo mere career ka sabse best wicket hai. (The wicket of MS Dhoni, it is the best wicket of my career).” Markande’s voice is still fraught with excitement after two years as he talks about THAT wicket of MS Dhoni at the Wankhede on 7 April 2018. It’s not a surprise that it is the first thing that hits his mind when someone talks about his IPL debut. And it is also not unnatural to expect him to get excited about nabbing the wicket of an Indian legend as a 20-year-old on debut in the ‘El Clasico’ of the biggest league in the world. The night before that Dhoni wicket, the night before the IPL 2018 opener between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, Markande surprisingly wasn’t deep asleep. He wasn’t watching his favourite series on Netflix or chatting on WhatsApp or surfing the internet. At 12.30 am, he was actually on the phone, receiving news that would change his career fortunes. “Kal tera debut hai tu khel raha hai match. (Tomorrow you will be making your debut)” Team manager Rahul Sanghvi was at the other end on the phone, along with head coach Mahela Jayawardena relaying the message to Markande. “I was smiling. Aur woh smile band hi nahi ho rahi thi khelne ko milega ye league me woh soch ke,” Markande recalls. “Sabka ek dream hota hai IPL me khelneka and ye mere liye ek badi cheez thi. Jis cheez ka aapne socha nahi tha ki IPL me khelunga aur ab wo debut karne jaa raha tha to acchi feeling thi (I was smiling and that smile wouldn’t go away thinking that I am going to play in the biggest league. Everyone has a dream of playing in the IPL and it was a big thing for me. I hadn’t even thought of it and here I was, going to make my debut. So that was a good feeling).” The excitement soon relented, there was no anxiety or even nerves. Was he able to sleep that day? “Haan bhaiya, acchi neend aayi thi, (Yes brother I slept well)” the leg spinner from Punjab politely responds. He was soon going to bowl in front of a packed Wankhede and millions on TV. *** Over the years, the composition of Mumbai Indians has been the primary catalyst in their success. Balance has always been the key component. However, ahead of the 2018 season, there was a little weakness that could have been exploited - the inexperienced spin department. Harbhajan Singh was released after 10 years, which meant that Krunal Pandya, whose IPL career was only two seasons old, formed the backbone. There was Sri Lanka spinner Akila Dananjaya with only a 35 match international experience and then there were uncapped ones in Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar, Tajinder Singh and Markande. The visionary Mumbai Indians management, though, seemed nonplussed. Over the years their scouting system has unearthed raw talents like Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, who have gone on to don the national colours. They did not fear launching youngsters on a big stage and there is a strong belief in their own system. The franchise had their plans in place. “The ones we’ve got, I am very confident that they will deliver,” MI coach Mahela Jayawardene had said ahead of the season. I wouldn’t call inexperience, I think IPL is all about freshness, new ideas and people coming in with new things. That’s what we are hoping for and we are fully prepared for that.” And so they unleashed Markande in the very first match of the season. *** Markande had impressed the MI think tank earlier at the start of the year during the pre-auction trial. He was bought for Rs 20 lakh in the auction by the franchise. He had not played any first-class cricket at that time and ahead of the IPL, he had the experience of only 10 domestic limited-overs matches. He was just 20 but wasn’t overawed or intimidated by the occasion. Ahead of the main tournament, his four wickets in the practice match provided the final stamp on his IPL boarding pass. Even after he received THAT midnight call, he remained unflustered, with no special preparation for his debut. “The preparation was the same as normal matches. I absolutely didn’t get a feeling that I was playing my debut match. I didn’t have any idea what’s going on inside. I was practicing along the lines of what was told to me. I was not understanding anything, I went with the flow and bowled in the nets. I was blank and hadn’t thought anything. I only followed my normal routine.” Having been put in to bat, the middle order propelled Mumbai to 165/4. In reply, Mumbai got off to a decent start sending back Shane Watson and Suresh Raina in the powerplay with 42 runs on the board. This is when Rohit tossed the ball to Markande. Still, there was no pressure or nerves. “I was just going with the flow and thinking ’the way I bowled in the practice match, I have to bowl the same way today’.” Rohit’s words pumped in extra confidence and motivation. “Rohit bhaiya ka attitude bindaas hai. He was like ‘kuch bhi kar, jo tera strength hai tu uspe kaam kar. Bindaas daal, baaki sab mai khud dekhlunga. Don’t keep it difficult, just keep doing what you have done in these years which has brought you here. Kuch sochneka nahi…kuch nahi…jo hoga baadme dekha jaayega, tu aapni bowling kar bas. Jaise tune practice match me daala tha waise hi kar. (Rohit’s attitude is cool and daring. He said don’t think much, bowl to your strengths. I will take care of the rest. You just bowl as you bowled in the practice match). The start was good. The first two balls were dots and then the third one had him up and running. The two dots had built the pressure which forced a set Ambati Rayudu to go for a slog sweep. He misjudged the spin and was trapped in front via a googly. [caption id=“attachment_8338001” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Mayank Markande celebrates the wicket of Ambati Rayudu in IPL 2018. Sportzpics[/caption] It was a carefully crafted wicket. In fact, his next two wickets gave a sneak peek into the incisive mind of Markande. “I had bowled two leg spinners (to Rayudu) and I thought he might start reading me. He had not seen me play earlier so I thought he might not read my googly. So I bowled the googly and bowled it a bit full because he would connect it off the normal length. When the batsman is under pressure or has played two dots, he normally goes for that sweep. So it happened as I thought, he went for a sweep and missed.” As soon as it hit the pad he knew Rayudu was a goner. There were fist pumps and smiles. “It was an icing on the cake,” Markande says about his maiden wicket. “Match bhi khel raha hu and wicket bhi mil gayi hai. Bohot his acchi feeling thi. (First of all, I am getting a chance to play the match and over it, I am getting a wicket as well. It was a very good feeling). There are players who go wicketless on their debuts.” That wicket changed not only boosted his confidence, it also changed his mindset. “When a bowler gets a wicket, his body language changes. Then he goes for another wicket. T20 is all about executing your plans. It gave me the confidence that I can take a wicket. And from then on I was gunning for wickets. I had started off thinking nothing but from then on, my game plan kept changing.” A ball later, he could have had another in the bag when Kedar Jadhav missed a skiddy googly after being caught on the backfoot, only for the umpire to turn down a vociferous appeal from Markande, who wore an ‘I can’t quite believe it’ look on his face. Rohit didn’t review it. “I was telling them to take a review but the wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan wasn’t interested, he was like ‘bowler ko har cheez out hi lagti hai’ (laughs). And in these cases, wicketkeepers ki hi suni jaati hai (wicketkeepers are often heard the most). I asked Ishan and he was like might be hitting leg stump or not so we weren’t sure, so we didn’t take. I had told but no one listened to me,” he quips. Replays showed it was hitting the leg stump with all three reds. Markande was vindicated. That vicious googly was wreaking havoc and its next victim was Dhoni. Hit on the pads. Given not out. Reviewed. OUT. So, whose call was it to review this time? “I didn’t even ask, Rohit bhai had himself taken it (review),” Markande quips. The wicket wasn’t planned as such. Markande thought that characteristically, Dhoni might play it on the back foot and that’s what happened. It was the turn and pace on the ball that beat Dhoni on his tuck. The mind had gone blank watching three reds on the ball tracker. “After that (Dhoni’s) wicket, I didn’t feel anything. At that time the crowd was buzzing and there was so much noise, it was only when I came to my room and read the text messages that I realised ki maine bohot bada kaam kiya hai (I had done something big), I didn’t feel it on the field. The umpire hadn’t given it out so didn’t get a chance to celebrate as well.” Rohit gave Markande four overs straight up and he signed off in style with the third wicket off the last ball of his spell. The googly doing the trick again to get Deepak Chahar stumped charging down the track only to get beaten by the flight and the spin. “When he (Chahar) came out to bat, they needed 11-12 per over, so I had thought that he’s come up the order so he’s out to attack. I had played Ranji Trophy match with him that season and I deliberately pushed it wide outside off to him off the first ball. If you bowl it on the stumps and the bounce on the wicket is good then the batsman has a chance to connect it well. So I thought of pushing it wide and maybe he will go after it and it was a no loss situation for me. I thought it might mostly cost me a single or so. And also I saw him step out of the crease so that made my decision easier. And he missed it.” Markande finished with 4-0-23-3. But a Dwayne Bravo blinder dragged CSK past the finish line in a thriller to leave the Wankhede stunned. He was the man of the match on the field while in the MI dressing room, the award went to the debutant. [caption id=“attachment_8338061” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Mayank Markande brought freshness and new ideas to the league. Image courtesy: Mayank Markande/Facebook[/caption] This is what Jayawardene was talking about in the pre-season conference. The freshness and players coming in with new ideas. Markande brought both to the league. His strong wrists help him impart a lot of revolutions on the ball. He is much quicker through the air and unlike traditional leg spinners, his googlies spin very fast giving the batsman very little time to adjust. Markande bowled nine googlies in that match according to analytics site Cricviz and picked up three wickets giving away just two runs off them. The CSK batsmen could connect just four of them. So was it a pre-planned strategy to go all out with googlies? Not as such. The Punjab spinner was just relying on his strength to take wickets. “There was no strategy as such, lekin agar batsman read nahi karega to googly daalni hi hai na? Usko out karne ke liye hi dekhoge na aap? Apni strength ko thode hi chodoge agar batsman read hi nahi kar raha (But if the batsman is not reading it, then I have to bowl that, I can’t leave my strength behind if the batsmen is not reading it, isn’t it?). Amidst the gloom of defeat, there were encouraging words from all quarters though, especially from the captain. “Next match me bhi aise hi daalna hai,” Rohit told Markande after the match. “Ho sakta hai agle match me maar bhi pade, har match to accha nahi jata, it’s a part of parcel of cricket, kuch din acche honge, kuch din bure honge. accha din naseeb me aa gaya. Zyaada sochneka nahi, bas aapni ball daalni hai, aur ussi pe work karte jaana hai.” (Bowl the same way in the next match. There are chances you might get hit but that’s fine. There are some good days and some bad days in cricket. You have experienced a good day, keep bowling what you are and keep working on it). Markande bagged four wickets in the next match against SRH and wore the purple cap temporarily. He played all 14 games that season and finished with 15 wickets at an average of 24.53, striking a wicket every 17.6 balls. It thrust him into the limelight. “It was a life-changing match. At a time when you were not even thinking of playing and then suddenly you end up having a memorable debut… That game gave me confidence and platform and after that I made my India debut. Full credit to IPL and Mumbai Indians. The only thing I feel sad about that day was we lost that match after performing so well. Personally, it was a dream debut though. I had never thought something like this will happen. It was a life-changing moment.” That match and THAT wicket had set the tone not just for the tournament but for his career as well.