In his second IPL match, Arjun Tendulkar continued to impress everyone, and even picked up a wicket- his maiden IPL wicket – that of tailender Bhuvneshwar Kumar as Mumbai Indians defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 14 runs.
He finished the match with figures of 1/18 in 2.5 overs; he stood up to the task of defending 20 runs in the last over and gave away only 5 runs in the last over.
This was Mumbai Indians’ third successive victory, and the bowling of young Arjun Tendulkar has been an impressive, bright spot for the five-time champions who now have 3 wins in 5 matches.
Here are 2 key takeaways from Arjun Tendulkar’s bowling vs SRH:
Arjun Tendulkar can mix up in length
The young left-arm seamer showed good adeptness in stretching back his lengths when he bowled to the aggressive Harry Brook in the first over. Despite his swing being his most potent weapon, Arjun Tendulkar, after bowling one full ball to Harry Brook, pulled his length back even with the new ball. This was to not give Brook the space and time to free his arms. Eventually, Brook had to make adjustments and make a skip down the pitch to take on Arjun’s length and back of length balls.
In his 2nd over, the 3rd of SRH’s innings after Brook was dismissed by Behrendorff via a short ball, Arjun bowled tidily to Agarwal and Tripathi, and only on the last ball of that over was Tripathi able to take a boundary, using his delicate hands to guide it through backward point and short third.
Arjun Tendulkar can bowl yorkers!
This was a big takeaway for MI and Rohit Sharma, who will now have more confidence in Arjun when bowling in the death overs. He’d bowled 2 overs with the new ball on his debut vs KKR, and today as well, he bowled 2 in the powerplay. But since Shokeen was given only one over, it became a necessity for Rohit to hand Arjun the ball in the last over of the match, where SRH needed 20 more runs with the belligerent Abdul Samad on the crease.
The youngster bowled wide yorkers brilliantly. He bowled to the field with a short thirdman and a deep point very fine, almost near the deep thirdman position. That led to the run-out of Abdul Samad on the second ball. Again, Arjun continued to bowl yorkers and wide yorkers, and eventually, got his maiden IPL wicket, Bhuvneshwar slicing a wide yorker to Rohit at cover.
WATCH: Arjun Tendulkar’s maiden IPL wicket
The maiden IPL wicket of Arjun Tendulkar. pic.twitter.com/Wa7jBKf3TE
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 18, 2023
Speaking of his bowling and his emotions, Arjun Tendulkar said: “Obviously it was great getting my first IPL wicket. I just had to focus on what was in hand, the plan and executing it. Our plan was just to bowl wide and get the long boundary into play, make the batsman hit it to the longer side. I love bowling, I am happy to bowl anytime the captain asks me to and just stick to the team plan and give my best. We talk about cricket, we discuss tactics before the game and he tells me to back what I practise every game. I just focused on my release, bowling good lengths and lines upfront. If it swings, it’s a bonus, if it doesn’t, so be it.”
