Hard work always pays off, says Mayank Markande

After a pleasing outing against the Englishmen in the unofficial Test, Markande credited to his ‘hard work’ which finally paid off

February 15 marked a memorable event in Mayank Markande’s cricketing career. Hours after playing a crucial role in India A’s victory against England Lions with his 5-wicket haul, the 21-year-old earned the maiden national call-up for the upcoming T20I home series against Australia.

Markande (5 for 31) spun a web around the visitors to bowl them out for 180 in the second innings on the third day of the four-day unofficial Test. Ollie Pope was Markande's first victim, trapped leg-before. Later, he removed Steve Mullaney, Dominic Bess and Zak Chappell in quick succession as the Lions capitulated.

After a pleasing outing against the Englishmen, Markande credited to his ‘hard work’ which finally paid off.

“Hard work always pays. It has been a great journey for me. I never really thought the past year would turn things around for me. I learnt something from Shabhaz (Nadeem) and Jalaj (Saxena) bhai in this match,” he said.

The mystery spinner had already garnered attention following his remarkable stint with the Mumbai Indian in IPL 2018. Markande continued his hard work and now he is ready to don the blue Indian jersey.

Coming to his induction into the Indian T20 squad, he will be replacing Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav in the two-match series. The tournament kickstart from February 24 in Vizag. The second match is slated to be played in Bengaluru on February 27.

India's squad for T20I series against Australia:

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Sidharth Kaul, Mayank Markande.