SMAT: History made as Arjun Tendulkar notches rare milestone that even Sachin Tendulkar missed

Arjun Tendulkar scripted history and achieved a rare career milestone, one that even his legendary father Sachin Tendulkar never attained. The young bowling all-rounder Arjun Tendulkar is currently representing the Goa cricket team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, having switched his base from Mumbai. He had initially made his T20 debut for Mumbai during the 2020-21 season and famously kicked off his Ranji Trophy career with an impressive century. Arjun now plays all three formats of the game for Goa.

What milestone did Arjun Tendulkar achieve to surpass Sachin?

His career statistics reflect his all-round ability: the left-arm pacer has taken 48 wickets and scored 620 runs, including one century and two half-centuries, across 22 first-class matches. In the List A format, Arjun has secured 25 wickets in 18 matches while contributing 102 runs across 10 innings. His T20 career currently stands at 35 wickets and 189 runs over 29 games.

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Arjun Tendulkar sets rare all-round record

The historical achievement came when Arjun Tendulkar officially joined an elite list of cricketers to open both the batting and the bowling in a single T20 match. This significant milestone was reached during a league stage game against Madhya Pradesh. Arjun has recently taken on a new role for the Goa team, where he has been tasked with opening the batting in the T20 format. Although he had been bowling with the new ball in previous matches, he typically bowled the second over. However, against Madhya Pradesh, Arjun stepped up to bowl the very first over of the innings, officially cementing his place in the record books.

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Arjun Tendulkar had a memorable day in the game where he achieved the rare feat, delivering with the ball by scalping three wickets for 36 runs in his four overs. He also contributed 16 runs off 10 balls with the bat. Overall, in the five matches he has played in the current tournament, Arjun has accumulated 70 runs and taken 8 wickets.

In contrast, his father, Sachin Tendulkar, was a full-time opener in T20s but never opened the bowling. The legendary "Master Blaster" had a minimal bowling role in the format, delivering only 93 balls across the 96 T20 matches he played, managing to take just two wickets. Sachin Tendulkar played only one T20 International in his career, featuring in India's first-ever T20I match in 2006. Notably, in 2010, he became the first Indian cricketer to win the Orange Cap, scoring 618 runs that season.