Salil Ankola, the Mumbai Cricket Association chief of selector has said the inclusion of Arjun Tendulkar among others in the Ranji squad announced on Wednesday has been done keeping the future in mind.
Arjun Tendulkar, son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, is part of the 20-member squad, led by Prithvi Shaw, for Mumbai’s first two Ranji matches against Maharashtra and Delhi.
Salil Ankola : Arjun Tendulkar Has Been Bowling Well
Salil Ankola said Arjun Tendulkar has been bowling well in the games he has played after recovering from an injury. Arjun Tendulkar had played just two games and had returned figures of 1/34 and 1/33 in those two outings. He also had received an IPL contract with the Mumbai Indians but didn’t play even a single game. Arjun Tendulkar was bought at his base price of Rs 20 lakh by IPL 2020 champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL Auction 2021 in Chennai.
“Arjun (Tendulkar) has been bowling well, unfortunately, he was injured in between but he did well in whatever games he played thereafter. We have picked a team looking at the future of Mumbai cricket,” Salil Ankola said.
He added, “Unfortunately Tushar Deshpande, our seamer, is injured but it’s a promising team. It’s a mixed team where we have picked players from under-19 and also who have been part of the Mumbai team for a few years.”
The Ranji Trophy gets underway from January 13. Salil Ankola said Arjun Tendulkar “has been bowling well” after recovering from an unfortunate injury and the team has been picked “looking at the future of Mumbai cricket.” Mumbai will begin their campaign against Maharashtra on January 13 and both their matches against Maharashtra and Delhi are in Kolkata as this year the tournament is being played in neutral venues.
Salil Ankola: Players From Under 19 Have Performed For Senior Team As Well
Salil Ankola said the team is a good mixture of young and senior players and is hopeful of a good season. Mumbai finished third in their pool during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and finished last in Group B of Vijay Hazare Trophy this season.
Chief selector Salil Ankola backed Prithvi Shaw for the leadership role. The 22-year old led Mumbai to win the Vijay Hazare Trophy last season as he scored 827 runs with an average of 165.40 and strike rate of 138.29.
“There are a few young players like Prince Badiani, who did well in under 19 for us. We wanted to promote them and see how they do on the big stage. What we have seen is the players coming from under 19 have performed for the senior men team too. We are hopeful that the team will do well going ahead,” Salil Ankola said.
Arjun Tendulkar, who has played two T20s for the senior Mumbai team, is yet to feature in the Ranji Trophy, which did not take place last year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Mumbai will be led by India opener Prithvi Shaw. The team, however, will miss important players like pacer Tushar Deshpande – out with an injury and Suryakumar Yadav – likely to be included in India’s ODI squad for South Africa tour.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube are other notable names in the Mumbai squad. The Mumbai team had a disastrous white ball tourney as the team wasn’t able to qualify in Syed Mushtaq Ali and stood last in Group B of Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 overs).
Squad: Prithvi Shaw (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aakarshit Gomel, Arman Jaffer, Sarfaraz Khan, Sachin Yadav, Aditya Tare (W.K.), Hardik Tamore (W.K.), Shivam Dube, Aman Khan, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Prashant Solanki, Shashank Attarde, Dhaval Kulkarni, Mohit Awasthi, Prince Badiani, Siddharth Raut, Roystan Dias, Arjun Tendulkar.