Augusto Rodrigues
Arjun Tendulkar, son of Sachin Tendulkar, was taken into the Goa Ranji Trophy team to give depth to its bowling and he finished his Ranji debut with three wickets and a maiden century which was widely publicised.
Sachin Tendulkar scored his century on his debut for Bombay against Gujarat when he was 15. Arjun is 23 and scored his century from 178 balls. He got a life when he was on 18 runs.
Arjun claimed his three wickets from 23.1 overs and he gave away 104 runs. He bowled 100 dot balls at an economy rate of 4.49.
The match between Goa and Rajasthan ended in a draw with Goa taking the first-innings lead. Goa’s Mohit Redkar claimed five wickets from his 47 overs and gave away 113 runs. Mohit bowled 219 dot balls and finished with an economy rate of 2.40.
“Arjun Tendulkar has been taken in the Goa team to add teeth to our bowling department and it is nice that he managed to score a century on his debut Ranji match,” stated Girish Parekh, chairman of the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) selection committee as the din over Sachin Tendulkar’s son scoring a century on debut is dying down.
“Arjun will always be compared to his father and this will be the greatest difficulty he will have to overcome if he climbs the pedestals of cricket in India,” Parekh said, as he closely watched the performance of the Goa lads against Rajasthan at the Goa Cricket Association Academy ground in Porvorim.
“I am very happy for Arjun but we must remember that he has been brought as a bowler for the Goa team. He has to supplement his batting performance with bowling,” stated Vipul Phadke, President of GCA.
Arjun has been claiming wickets in the shorter format of the game but has not yet been able to leave his glitter on the field. “Arjun is performing well as a bowler, especially with the white ball which moves more than the red ball. However, it is too early to make any assessment,” said Parekh.
Arjun appears non-assuming with his colleagues on the pitch and normally prefers to be at the silly point when fielding. He enters to bat later down the order.
“Arjun is closely associated with his teammates and the support staff. He is dedicated and when there is no practice comes to the ground with throw downers from outside and practices for over three hours,” disclosed Prakash Mayekar, Director of Coaching (Senior).
“Arjun’s PR is handled by his father’s publicity team and that is why the media glare after he scored his century,” stated a member of GCA whilst rationalizing how Suyash Prabhudesai’s double century - his first- went literally unnoticed.
“He has been instructed not to interact with the media,” he added. Goa’s Sumiran Amonkar had scored a century on his Ranji debut.
