Legendary Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that before Arjun Tendulkar’s Indian Premier League (IPL) debut, he had not watched his son play in a competitive match. The 23-year-old made his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 16 at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
“This was a new experience for me. Till now, I have not actually gone and watched him play. I just wanted him to have that freedom to go out and express himself whatever he wanted to do. And today also I sat in the dressing room because I didn’t want him to let him move away from his plans and start looking at the mega screen here and suddenly realised that I was watching there. I was inside,” Sachin said in a video.
Arjun could have gotten a chance to debut for Mumbai in the glitzy league last year only as MI were out of the playoffs race but the team management decided against it.
Soon after, the bowling all-rounder took No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and shifted his roots to Goa.
The all-rounder scored a sensational century on his Ranji Trophy debut, a feat that he shares with his father. His ton came against Rajasthan, where he managed to score 120 runs and take three crucial wickets. Arjun played all the seven games for Goa this season and managed to scalp 12 wickets and score 237 runs. Also, Sachin and Arjun became the first father-son duo to play in the IPL.
“It’s a different feeling because 2008 was the first season for me and 16 years down the line, he plays for the same team. Not bad,” said Sachin.
Just before the start of MI vs KKR clash, Arjun received his debut cap from the hitman Rohit Sharma who did not captain the side due to stomach bug but was used as the impact player in the run chase. The youngster had a decent first outing as he conceded 17 runs from two overs. MI comfortably won the match by five wickets with 14 balls to spare despite Venkatesh Iyer’s maiden IPL century.
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