Mahela Jayawardene finally opens up on the possibility of Mumbai Indians handing a debut to Arjun Tendulkar at IPL 2022.
Arjun was bought by MI in the IPL 2022 mega auction, held earlier this year, for INR 30 lakh. Interestingly, the young left-arm pacer also got a bid worth INR 25 lakh from Gujarat.
When Will Arjun Tendulkar Make his IPL Debut
Mumbai Indians have nothing to lose as they head into the last leg of their IPL 2022 campaign. Having been ousted early from the play-offs race, the 5-time champions will look to test their bench strength in the upcoming games, keeping an eye on the future.
Now the red-hot question is whether MI will hand a debut cap to Arjun this season or not. Well, responding to questions during a media conference on the eve of MI’s 10th game against GT, head coach Mahela Jayawardene shared his thoughts on the possibility of Arjun playing his first game in the lucrative league.
Jayawardene said it all depends on the combination they go with in a particular match, and if the junior Tendulkar fits in the scheme of things, then he might make his debut.
“Well, I think everyone in the squad is an option. We will see how things go. It is about match-ups and how we can win the matches and our priority is to make sure that we get the right match-ups,” Jayawardene said, as quoted by India Today.
“Every game is a confidence thing, we managed to get our first win and it is about stringing wins together and get the confidence back. It is about putting the best guys in the park. If Arjun is one of them, then we will consider it, yes, but it all depends on the combination that we put out,” Jayawardene further said.
Tendulkar made his debut for his state side Mumbai during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy in January 2021; however, he is yet to make his first-class debut for the side.
The most successful franchise has already handed debuts to promising young talents, like Tilak Varma, Hrithik Shokeen, Kumar Kartikeya, and South Africa’s Dewald Brevis. All of them managed to grab the opportunities with both hands and contributed to the team at various stages of their campaign.
Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, will be aiming to make a strong finish to the season, having already been all but out of the race for playoff qualification.
