Mayank Markandeਮਯੰਕ ਮਾਰਕੰਡੇ

Mayank Markande (born 11 November 1997) is an Indian leg-spinner from Bathinda, Punjab, who plays for Punjab in domestic cricket and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. He announced himself on 7 April 2018, taking 3 for 23 against Chennai Super Kings on his IPL debut, a spell that included the wicket of MS Dhoni with a googly.

Early life

Markande was born in Bathinda, in Punjab's Malwa region, and schooled at Yadavindra Public School in Patiala. It was in Patiala, and in Punjab's age-group cricket, that his game took shape. He did not start out as a spinner at all. He began as a fast bowler, and it was his coach who saw something else in him: the back-of-the-hand slower ball he had mastered as a pacer could become a fine googly if he bowled leg-spin instead. The switch worked, and it worked fast.

Junior cricket gave the first proof. In the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy in the 2013-14 season, Markande took 29 wickets in seven matches for Punjab at an average of 18.24. The Cooch Behar Trophy, the Under-19 competition, brought more: 10 wickets in just two matches in 2014-15, then 23 wickets in seven outings in 2015-16 at an average under 27. He was a wicket-taker at every level he played, and the senior Punjab side was the next step.

How did Mayank Markande announce himself in the IPL?

Markande's rise was sudden even by IPL standards. He had played only a handful of senior matches for Punjab when Mumbai Indians picked him in the January 2018 auction at his base price of 20 lakh rupees, after a successful trial. He was playing for Punjab when the auction happened and found out only afterwards: 37 missed calls and 300 messages on his phone, and he believed the news only when a Mumbai Indians manager rang to congratulate him.

His debut, in the 2018 season opener against Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium, became one of the most talked-about first games in IPL history. Thrown the ball against a batting line-up full of stars, he returned 3 for 23 from four overs. His victims were Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni and Deepak Chahar, and all three fell to googlies. The Dhoni wicket, the great finisher beaten by a ball he did not pick, was the moment that made Markande's name overnight. His figures were the second-best by a Mumbai Indians bowler on debut, after Lasith Malinga's 3 for 15.

The rest of that season kept the story going. Markande finished with 15 wickets in 14 matches, Mumbai Indians' leading wicket-taker for the season, and briefly held the Purple Cap in the early weeks. In March 2019, the International Cricket Council named him one of eight players to watch ahead of the next IPL season.

Domestic career

Markande's senior career had begun only a few months before that IPL debut. He made his Twenty20 debut for Punjab in the 2017-18 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on 14 January 2018, taking eight wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of 7.10. His List A debut followed in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on 7 February 2018, against Haryana in Bengaluru, and he took 10 wickets in six matches at an economy of 4.67.

His first-class debut came in the Ranji Trophy on 1 November 2018. In that 2018-19 season he was Punjab's leading wicket-taker, with 29 dismissals in six matches. The selectors noticed: he was named in India B's squad for the 2018-19 Deodhar Trophy in October 2018, played for India at the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in December 2018, and was picked for India C in the 2019-20 Deodhar Trophy.

The numbers since then show a bowler who keeps taking wickets wherever he plays. As of 10 November 2026, he had 122 first-class wickets in 44 matches, with best figures of 6 for 59 and five five-wicket hauls; 114 wickets in 73 List A matches, with a best of 4 for 14; and 94 wickets in 96 Twenty20 matches, with a best of 4 for 4. He also bats right-handed in the lower order, with three first-class fifties and a best score of 76.

One India cap

Markande's IPL debut season earned him a place in India's Twenty20 International squad for the home series against Australia in February 2019. He made his debut on 24 February 2019 at Visakhapatnam, becoming India's 80th T20I cap. He bowled four overs for 31 runs without a wicket, and Australia won the match by three wickets.

It remains his only international appearance. The cap is a reminder of how fine the margins are in Indian cricket: a debutant who dismissed Dhoni on his first IPL night waited for a second India chance that, so far, has not come. His story since then has been written in domestic cricket and in the IPL.

The IPL journeyman years

The seasons after 2018 tested Markande's patience. In 2019 he played only three matches for Mumbai Indians, taking one wicket, though he collected an IPL winners' medal as Mumbai lifted the title. In July 2019 he was traded to Delhi Capitals, and then to Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2020 season for 2 crore rupees. In two seasons at the Royals he played only one game.

Mumbai Indians bought him back in the February 2022 auction, but he played just two matches that season. The break came at Sunrisers Hyderabad, who bought him for 50 lakh rupees ahead of the 2023 season. Across 2023 and 2024 he played 17 matches and took 20 wickets, his first run of regular IPL cricket since his debut year.

Kolkata Knight Riders bought him at the 2025 mega auction, but with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy ahead of him he did not play a game all season. Ahead of the 2026 season he was traded back to Mumbai Indians, the franchise where it all began, and played in the 2026 tournament. Across his IPL career to 10 November 2026, he had played 40 matches and taken 37 wickets, with best figures of 4 for 15 and an economy rate of 9.16.

Bowling style and what comes next

Markande is a classical right-arm leg-break bowler. His stock ball is a looping leg-break, and his main weapon is the googly he first learned as a converted pacer. He flights the ball and is not afraid to be hit, which is why captains have used him as an attacking option in the middle overs rather than a containing one. His economy rate, above nine runs an over in the IPL, shows the cost of that approach, and his wicket tally shows its reward.

In August 2026 he played for Amritsar Soormas in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 League, Punjab's state T20 competition, taking on a senior role in the side. He spoke then about helping the team's younger spinners with field placements, variations and reading pitches, and about controlling the middle overs by breaking partnerships. It was a different kind of role from the teenager who once bowled Dhoni with a googly, but it showed the same cricketer: a spinner from Bathinda who learned his craft in Punjab and keeps finding his way back onto the field, one franchise and one season at a time.