IPL 2021: Mumbai Indians' Arjun Tendulkar ruled out with injury, Simarjeet Singh named as replacement

Mumbai Indians all-rounder Arjun Tendulkar has been ruled out of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League with an injury, the franchise announced on September 29, with right arm-pacer Simarjeet Singh added to their squad as a replacement.

“Mumbai Indians have added Simarjeet Singh as an injury replacement to Arjun Tendulkar for the remainder of their IPL 2021 season,” a Mumbai Indians statement read. “The right-arm medium-fast bowler has started training with the team after completing the mandatory quarantine as per IPL guidelines.”

Arjun Tendulkar, who was brought by the franchise for his base price of INR 20 lakh during the IPL auction earlier this year, is yet to make his IPL debut. In his senior professional career thus far, Tendulkar has played two T20s for Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with two wickets to his name. He made his debut against Haryana in January this year.

Delhi pacer Simrarjeet Singh, who made his Ranji debut against Hyderabad in November 2018, was recently named as one of the five reserve bowlers alongside Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh and R Sai Kishore on India’s Sri Lanka tour in July. He was also drafted into the main squad after Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya contracted with Covid-19, forcing no less than eight players deemed his close contact into isolation. However, only Sandeep Warrier amongst the abovementioned was handed a T20I debut cap.

Simrajeet, 23, has 18 wickets at an average and economy of 20.50 and 7.76 respectively from 15 T20 matches, while he has 19 wickets in as many List A games apart from 37 scalps in 10 First-Class matches. Despite being drafted into the Mumbai Indians team, it remains unlikely that the medium-pacer would feature in the tournament.

As for the Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2021 campaign, the Rohit Sharma-led team got back to winning ways after three successive defeats upon season resumption in the United Arab Emirates. They defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets on September 28 and are currently seated on the fifth spot, with five wins and six losses in 11 completed fixtures. Their remaining fixtures are against Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad on October 2, 5 and 8 respectively.

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