Bravo scored a 30-ball 68 and conceded just 25 runs in his four overs as Chennai sealed a thrilling one-wicket win with just a ball to spare in the tournament opener.

Mumbai, the defending champions, were on the verge of victory after they had reduced Chennai to 119-8 after 17 overs, the visitors still 48 runs behind. Bravo then hammered 20 runs each in the next two overs, including five sixes, before holing out.

Markande is already being touted as Mumbai’s big find of the season, and Jayawardene’s praise will only boost the hype. “He bowled really well,” said the former Sri Lankan mainstay. “We saw him first at our camp, (and) we knew that he was special. He came for two trial games, both him and (Rahul) Chahar. We backed our youngsters. We knew that this is the year we had to do that. The stadium was packed, (but) he bowled really well so I am quite pleased for him.

“He is quite accurate, and probably a little different from a normal leg-spinner. The way he delivers the ball, the control he has with all his variations, he’s got quite a bit. It was a very confident (performance) for a guy who hasn’t played much of T20 cricket, the attitude was great. We wanted to back these kinds of guys and give them the opportunity to see what happens, and he bowled really well.”

Despite losing their opener, Jayawardene was upbeat and opted to look at the positives, of which there were plenty for Mumbai. “This is the nature of the beast (T20 cricket),” he said. “We take a lot of the positives that we did this first game and we carry on. We’ve got more matches to come. I am quite pleased. Usually, you start nervously and you probably lose a game quite badly. The adrenaline is there, but in execution, we lacked a little bit. That was a great game of cricket, so a lot of positives.”