Arjun Tendulkar, the son of legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, had a night to cherish in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Tuesday. He picked up his first wicket for Mumbai Indians against SunRisers Hyderabad, which turned out to be a crucial moment in the match. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma, handed Arjun the ball in the last over of the match when SunRisers Hyderabad needed 20 runs to win. Despite being a newcomer, Arjun showcased his skills with a couple of yorkers and also managed to take the wicket of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His team won the match by 14 runs, and Sachin was understandably proud of his son. Many famous personalities congratulated the father-son duo on the special occasion.
Arjun the overall package?
A day after his impressive bowling performance, Mumbai Indians posted a video on social media. The video showed several young bowlers of the team batting in the nets, including Arjun. It was surprising to see Arjun hitting big shots as he is mainly known for his left-arm pace bowling. However, it is worth mentioning that Arjun had already slammed a century on his Ranji Trophy debut in December 2022 for Goa against Rajasthan, emulating his father's feat.
"Striking so good, you'd think it was their first job ?? Look again," MI captioned the post.
Tom Moody warns Arjun against complacency
Despite receiving praise from several current and former cricketers for his composure under pressure during his IPL debut, Mumbai Indians' Arjun Tendulkar was cautioned by former SunRisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody against being labelled as a "death-over bowler" too soon. Moody, who has coached several IPL teams, cautioned that it would be premature to judge the 22-year-old based on just one performance and emphasized the importance of consistency and hard work in a player's career.
"If you assess him purely on execution, he got it right. He got his line right, he bowled the side of the field that he was looking at, he got his length right, he got the number of deliveries close to the yorker. It would've put him, as well as Rohit, under enormous pressure, because he (Rohit) wouldn't have been planning at the beginning of the innings that Arjun Tendulkar was going to be one of his death bowlers," Moody said during an interaction on ESPNcricinfo.
