It’s been the third year for Arjun Tendulkar to wear the blue jersey of Mumbai Indians. Yet, he hasn’t crossed the boundary line towards the pitch direction. He was in the dugout last season for a game or two.
In fact, his entire family was present at one of the games, including his sister Sara Tendulkar and mother Anjali Tendulkar. But the wait lasted longer than many anticipated.
He has gone a step ahead this season and is included in the impact players list. But again, there is a feeling that he won’t be substituted in the way MI management is going.
So what’s keeping Arjun Tendulkar away from playing his first IPL game for Mumbai Indians? We tried to shed light on the uncapped players and their performances who played ahead of Arjun in the last two and current seasons.
Before that, let’s look at Arjun Tendulkar’s performance in the last year.
Profile
Arjun Tendulkar is a bowling all-rounder. The left-arm pacer has played for Marylebone Fun88 Club Young Fun88ers, Mumbai under-14s, under-16s, under-19s, and Mumbai’s T20 team before 2022. He switched to Goa for regular play time in Ranji’s and other domestic games. He made his domestic debut for Mumbai in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Haryana and came up with 1 wicket for 34 runs in 3 overs. He played one more T20 game for Mumbai in the same season before switching his services to Goa.
In Goa, Tendulkar prospered under Darshan Misal’s captaincy and Yogiraj Singh’s coaching. On his First-class debut, Arjun scored a century (120) and took three wickets with the ball. Arjun emulated his father’s, the great Sachin Tendulkar’s, record by scoring a century on his FC debut.
Arjun finished the season with 12 wickets and 223 runs. In SMAT, he was the leading wicket-taker for Goa, with 8 wickets at an economy of 4.98. Looking at these figures, one could have judged that his name would be on the playing eleven rosters. But, MI again didn’t give him a chance and opted to play other uncapped players.
Finally, after much buzz, AT debuted against KKR at Wankede Stadium on 16th April. But he bowled just 2 overs to give 17 runs. In the next game against SRH, Tendulkar Jr. went a step ahead to defend 20 runs in the final over. Tendulkar bowled beautifully, nailing the yorkers as per the plan. He gave 5 runs and took his first IPL wicket.
Uncapped Players who debuted ahead of Arjun Tendulkar
MI gave chances to 8 uncapped Indian players and 2 uncapped internationals ahead of Arjun Tendulkar in IPL 2021 and 2022. Let’s find out how they performed in a short summary of each.
Tilak Verma
Undoubtedly, the best debut given by MI to an uncapped player in the last two seasons. Verma ended up leading the runs chart for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022. He scored 397 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 131.02. And he is continuing his form this season as well with 214 runs in 5 games with an improved strike rate of 158.52.
Anmolpreet Singh
Singh played one game for MI in 2021 and 2 in 2022. In three games, he scored 29 runs at a strike rate of 107. He didn’t get a chance after that. You might be thinking that Singh would have better stats in domestic fun88. But that is not the case here. Singh’s strike rate in domestic T20s is 114.24. Maybe his experience forced MI management to put him ahead of Arjun.
In 2023, SRH picked Anmolpreet Singh in the auction. He is yet to make a debut for SRH.
Ramandeep Singh
The middle-order batting allrounder from Chandigarh played five games for MI in 2022. With a strike rate of 130. 26 and an economy of 8.11 with the ball in domestic T20s, Singh could score just 45 runs but took 6 wickets in 3 innings he bowled. MI is yet to give him a chance this season.
Hrithik Shoukeen
The Delhi-based off-break bowler debuted for MI before playing any domestic game. In 5 games, Shoukeen took 2 wickets, giving 127 runs in 5 overs. Do we need to say more here? Since then, he also played 11 T20s and took 7 wickets at an economy of 8.66.
Shoukeen was preferred again over AT in the 2023 season. He has 3 wickets in 4 games at an economy above 10.
Kumar Kartikeya
Kartikeya played 4 games in IPL 2022, taking 5 wickets at an economy of 7.84. Current Ranji Trophy winner and second leading wicket-taker of the same tournament (32 wickets), was just used once as an impact sub in 2023 so far.
Sanjay Yadav
To none’s expectations, Sanjay Yadav played a game for MI where he gave 23 runs in 2 overs and scored zero with the bat. His domestic T20 stats are a little impressive, though. A strike rate of 119.23 with the bat and an economy of 6.70, picking 19 wickets with the ball.
He is not with Mumbai Indians for IPL 2023.
Nehal Wadhera
The top-order batter joined MI playing 11 in 2023. With no domestic experience, Wadhera played three games for MI so far, scoring 21 runs in 1 innings at a strike rate of 161.53.
Arshad Khan
With an experience of 3 list-A games for Madhya Pradesh, MI brought Arshad Khan into the playing eleven over Arjun. Khan ended up giving 75 runs in 5.3 overs of the first three games of IPL 2023.
Besides this, MI gave a debut to Dewald Brewis and Tristan Stubbs as uncapped foreign players. While Brewis created a buzz with his hitting, he is warming the dugout with zero appearances this season.
Uncapped Players who left MI & debuted ahead of Arjun Tendulkar
Two players who were a part of MI joined other teams and made dream debuts for their respective teams.
Mohsin Khan
Khan was awarded a new ball for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022. He took 14 wickets in 9 games at an economy of 5.96. Did MI miss the bus with Khan? Yes!
Khan is out of this season with an injury.
Yudhvir Singh
One’s loss is another’s gain. Khan’s injury allowed Yudhvir Singh to prove himself on the pitch. In his first game, e returned with 2 wickets for 19 runs in 3 overs.
What’s next for Arjun Tendulkar?
With so many wrong decisions by MI management over the last two years and few misses, Arjun Tendulkr’s future is still blurry. He got his chance against KKR, but will he continue to get chances is a million-dollar question.
Perhaps Ashish Nehra, who increased the bidding price for Arjun Tendulkar for the last year’s auction, would have given chances to Arjun Tendulkar early than MI. Gujrat Titans rotated uncapped Yash Dayal and Darshan Nalkande strategically last season and won the trophy.
Hopefully, MI management, who is struggling with the bowling unit, would try Arjun Tendulkar more in the near future.
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