Left-arm pacer Arjun Tendulkar has received his maiden call-up for the senior Mumbai team of Ranji Trophy.
The 20-member squad will be led by swashbuckling opener Prithvi Shaw who led Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare title in March.
It is an honour to be selected to represent Mumbai in the prestigious Ranji Trophy. It is a dream come true for me. I am eagerly looking forward to giving my best for the team.
Said Arjun in an interview to TOI.
Arjun was part of the squad for the Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January 2021 and played two games for Mumbai and took two wickets and made three runs.
In February 2021, he was picked up by Mumbai Indians in the Mega Auctions but is yet to make his debut in the IPL.
Another reason for Arjun’s selection in the team is because of Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande suffering a bad rib injury. He is said to have fractured two of his ribs. This made him unavailable for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Salil Ankola on Arjun Tendulkar
Salil Ankola also threw light on Arjun Tendulkar’s selection in the team.
I don’t understand this sole focus on Arjun, just because he’s Tendulkar’s son. Our focus was on picking youngsters to give a new look to the team. He’s talented and has been performing well, did well for the Mumbai under-19 team a couple of years back. He scored 85 off 60 ball yesterday and took four wickets around a week back in a local tournament. It was a unanimous selection, and the captain (Shaw) also attended the meeting. With Tushar not being there, we needed a few options.
He also revealed that Prithvi Shaw will be the captain for the entire season of the Ranji Trophy.
Aditya Tare, who was overlooked for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, has been selected in the Ranji Trophy squad. Prince Badiani has also been selected.
However, Musheer Khan and Atif Attarwala failed to make the cut.
Mumbai has been placed in the elite group C in Kolkata with Karnataka, Delhi, Hyderabad, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand.
Ankola was a bit worried about the form of Shivam Dube.
Hopefully he clicks. He’s been out of form. He’s been an India player, after all. I’m hoping that Tare does well. A team cannot be a team without senior players.
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