Impressed by his performances seen in the IPL 2023 and his future potential as a pace-bowling all-rounder, the BCCI has called up Arjun Tendulkar for the three-week camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.
The board’s selection committee, headed by Shiv Sunder Das on an interim basis, shortlisted 20 youngsters, including Arjun Tendulkar, and rang them up to be part of this camp at the NCA.
“There is an Emerging Asia Cup (U-23) also later this year and BCCI is looking at potential youngsters. The all-rounders camp is an idea of NCA’s head of cricket VVS Laxman to ensure that we develop a lot of multi-skilled players across formats,” a senior BCCI source told PTI.
Arjun Tendulkar made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023
After being on the bench for two seasons, Arjun Tendulkar, a left-handed seam-bowling all-rounder, finally got to make his IPL debut in IPL 2023 season for Mumbai Indians. Seen predominantly as a new ball bowler, Arjun, the some of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, bowled 9.5 overs in 4 matches he featured in and picked up 3 wickets, but was slightly expensive, leaking at 9.35 runs per over.
The left-arm pacer showed promise of a bright future by swinging the ball into the right-hander and also nailing some yorkers.
Along with Arjun Tendulkar, the other cricketers called up for the NCA camp include Chetan Sakariya, Abhishek Sharma, Harshit Rana, Mohit Redkar, Manav Suthar, and Divij Mehra. Former India cricketer Shiv Sunder Das, who is currently heading the selection committee, has picked a spate of all-rounders for this camp.
“Not everyone summoned for camp is a pure all-rounder. Some are batting all-rounders and some are opposite. The idea is to tap the potential and help them upgrade their skills suitably for transition to next grade,” the source added.
About the selection of Arjun Tendulkar for this camp, the source said: “Arjun already has a Ranji Trophy century. A left-arm pacer who bowls between early and mid 130 kmph and bats left-handed. He brings in variety. It is not just about numbers but also about potential. He is 23 and has time to develop is what this (senior selection) committee thinks. Else, they wouldn’t have picked him. Yes, he only has 12 wickets from seven first-class games but he has shown a certain degree of ability and coaches will work on that.”
