Mayank Markande As Backup Spinner For World Cup? Virat Kohli Responds

Mayank Markande earned his maiden call up from Team India when the selectors named in the squad for the upcoming T20I series against Australia. The leg-spinner from Punjab found a place in the T20I squad. The call-up comes just a few months after Markande showed his potential in the Indian Premier League. Playing for Mumbai Indians, Markande was one of the success stories of last season.

He had a dream debut in the league as he blew eventual winners Chennai Super Kings. The youngster accounted for the likes of MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu to finish with figures of 3 for 23 in the first game of the season in 2018.

It was the second best performance overall as a Mumbai Indians debutant after Lasith Malinga who had registered the figures of 3 for 15.

It then opened paved the way for his maiden call-up from India A squad and Markande impressed again. Earlier this month, he had starred for India A in their massive win over England Lions in the second unofficial Test. The leg-spinner picked up five wickets in the second innings, helping the home side thrash the tourists by an innings and 68 runs.

However, many felt that Markande’s call-up was untimely. With the World Cup just a few months away, many thought that the selectors could not refrained from experimenting for a while. It also made a few speculate that Markande might be in contention for a World Cup squad as a backup spinner.

However, India skipper Virat Kohli has said that the youngster’s inclusion will not disrupt the team’s preparation for the World Cup, thus effectively bringing curtains on Markande’s World Cup hopes.

“Look, he’s been given an opportunity because he’s done well. How it changes things during the World Cup, I’m not looking at this particular selection or change as something that will really disrupt our plans for the World Cup. It’s purely giving a youngster a chance, who has done well over the last couple of seasons and bowled well in the IPL and T20 cricket. That’s purely from that point of view, and definitely will not hamper any of our plans going into the World Cup,” Kohli said ahead of the first T20I against Australia.

“We’re more or less sorted (with our World Cup plans). But through the course of the series, you might see something which might surprise you as a team and which you might want to change immediately. But those are things that are upon how circumstances come in front of you. As of now, we feel pretty balanced as a side and I don’t see any concerns or areas that we need to think about anymore. Everything is more or less sorted,” he added.