Minutes before Mumbai Indians had won the Toss and elected to field first against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium today, news had broken that Arjun Tendulkar, son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar will finally make his IPL debut today in the ongoing 16th edition of the league.
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Having spent his time in the sidelines and warming the benches for past two seasons with the five-time champion franchise, the 23-year-old finally had an opportunity to showcase his mettle in the world’s biggest T20 league.
In fact, the moment arrived right away after stepping on the field, as Arjun was handed the responsibility to open the bowling. The left-arm seamer bowled some tight lines and conceded mere five runs in his very first IPL Over.
Continuing the spell in the Powerplay, he did concede a Four and a Six on the final two deliveries, and leaked 13 runs in his next Over. He was not further bowled by MI’s stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav during the innings, thereby ending his debut appearance in the league with match figures of 2-0-17-0.
Sachin Tendulkar Posts Heartening Tweet for Son After his IPL Debut
The legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who is with the Mumbai Indians as the team ICON, took to his social media handle to congratulate his son for taking an important step in his journey as a cricketer.
A proud servant of the game that he had always been throughout his career, Sachin passed on some words of humility onto his son as well, expecting him to give the sport the respect it deserves.
Despite bowling only two Overs in the match, Arjun did play a small part in the Indians winning their second consecutive match in the ongoing season, after having lost their opening two matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings.
First father-son duo to play in the IPL
Sachin Tendulkar and Arjun Tendulkar have now become the first father-son duo to have played in the IPL, with the former having also played for MI from 2008-2013.
Coincidentally, both of them bowled their very first IPL Over against KKR, and even conceded five runs each. While Sachin bowled the Over in April 2009, his son did it in April 2023.
