Arjun Tendulkar ignored for U19 teams yet again

Arjun Tendulkar is not having as smooth a ride as his legendary father when it comes to the evolution with age. The 18-plus bowler, who missed the limited-over games in a youth tour of Sri Lanka, has been overlooked again by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for any of the three U-19 Indian squads for the tight schedules ahead. This virtually means an end of the road for the bowler’s colt days and he now has to target the senior teams through his performances.

Tendulkar failed to find a berth in the three U-19 squads that the board announced. While the squad led by Pavan Shah will play in the upcoming U19 Asia Cup, the U19 ‘A’ and U19 ‘B’ squads –also led by Shah and Vedant Murkar respectively – will take on Nepal ‘A’ and Afghanistan ‘A’ in a quadrangular series in Lucknow, a report in Timesnownews.com said.

Tendulkar, who will turn 19 this September, has not been preferred for he will be above 19 when the next U-19 World Cup will be played, in South Africa, in 2020. Tendulkar played a couple of four-day games against Sri Lanka U-19 team last month though could not produce anything spectacular.

He was ignored for the one-day team which won the series 3-2. Tendulkar, who took three wickets in two matches against Sri Lanka U-19, was also ignored for Mumbai’s off-season camp even though the selectors added seven new players to the list.

The road ahead for Junior Tendulkar

The young cricketer was recently seen bowling to the Indian team at the nets before the second Test at Lord’s. He was also seen helping the groundstaff when rain intervened in the game and selling radios outside the stadium which earned him praise from veteran player like Harbhajan Singh. He also made the headlines in the past for bowling a lethal yorker to English wicket-keeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow during a practice session, injuring him.

Tendulkar would now have to take a leaf out of his father’s book to compete at the higher levels. Sachin Tendulkar had made his international debut at the age of 16 when he toured Pakistan and faced some fierce fast bowlers there. He had a bloodied nose when hit by another debutante Waqar Younis but that never deterred him from scripting an international career spanning almost two-and-half decades.

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