Colombo/Bhubaneswar: Arjun Tendulkar, son of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, announced his arrival in international age group cricket in style by picking up his first wicket on Day 1 of his debut.
India U-19 team led by Anuj Rawat were invited to bowl first by the hosts in the first youth test being played in Colombo and left-arm pacer Arjun Tendulkar trapped Lankan opener Kamil Mishara in his second over. Mishara failed to get a bat on to an in-swinging delivery from Arjun and the umpire found him right in front of the stumps.
Team India bowled the Lankans out for a mere score of 244 runs. Arjun picked up only one wicket in the innings but was impressive with his economy rate and bowling control. He gave away 33 runs in 11 overs. Harsh Tyagi and Ayush Badoni were the pick of the bowlers as they claimed four wickets each for the Indian under 19 side.
In reply, Team India has lost the wicket of Anuj Rawat (63) and at the end of the opening day were at 92/1, trailing by 152 runs.
Seeing Arjun picking up his maiden wicket for the Indian under 19 team, former cricketer and Sachin Tendulkar’s childhood friend Vinod Kambli took to twitter to congratulate Arjun and posted an emotional message.
“Tears of joy rolled down when I saw this, have seen him grow up and put in the hard work in his game. Could not be more happy for you, Arjun. This is just the beginning, I wish you tons and ton of success in the days to come. Cherish your first wicket and enjoy the moment,” tweeted Kambli.
Cricket writer Nibraz Ramzan also took to twitter and posted the video of Arjun Tendulkar’s first wicket and tagged Sachin Tendulkar in that tweet.
Arjun Tendulkar was selected in the under-19 squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in July. Ahead of the tour, he attended a U-19 camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) under the supervision of WV Raman and Sanath Kumar.
India will be playing two youth test matches against the Lankans in this tour with the second test match scheduled to begin from July 24.