Arjun makes senior debut as Mumbai suffer third defeat
MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar played his last domestic match in October 2013 in the sleepy town of Lahli, around 10km from Rohtak, against Haryana in a Ranji Trophy match. On Friday, just over seven years later, his son Arjun made his debut for Mumbai against the same opponents in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here.
While the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium was filled to the brim to watch the senior Tendulkar in action for the last time in domestic cricket, Arjun’s first Mumbai outing came in an empty MCA BKC Ground due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The 21-year-old left-handed batsman, coming in at No 11, remained not out on zero and then recorded figures of one for 34 in three overs with his leftarm pace. He took the wicket of opener Chaitanya Bishnoi, caught behind by wicketkeeper
Aditya Tare. Those present on the ground said it was a decent outing for the young pacer on a wicket which didn’t offer much help. Arjun, along with Krutik Hanagavadi, were late additions to the Mumbai squad after the Board of Control for Cricket in India allowed teams to increase their squad size from 20 to 22.
Arjun has represented Mumbai in different age groups since his under-14 days. He was also part of the India under-19 team that toured Sri Lanka in 2018. His first senior tournament was the second edition of T20 Mumbai League in 2019 where he represented Aakash Tigers and took five wickets and scored 104 runs in six matches.
Challenge over
Meanwhile, Mumbai are all but knocked out of the tournament after suffering their third straight loss on Friday, losing by eight wickets against Haryana.
Batting first, Mumbai were bowled out for 143 with three of their main batsmen—suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad and Shivam Dube—failing to open their account. Late bursts from Atharva Ankolekar (37) and Sarfaraz Khan (30) down the order helped them cross the three-figure mark from 56 for six. Offspinner Jayant Yadav picked up four for 22 for Haryana.
Haryana lost a couple of early wickets but Himanshu Rana (75 not out) and Shivam Chauhan (43 not out) saw them through. Brief scores: Mumbai 143 in
19.3 ov (A Ankolekar 37; J Yadav 4/22) lost to Haryana 144/2 in 17.4 ov (H Rana 75*)