‘Whether Arjun Tendulkar will play…’ Ex-India cricketer’s ‘100 percent certain’ prediction for MI’s XI vs GT
A former India cricketer made a massive prediction on Arjun Tendulkar's inclusion in MI's playing XI for their IPL 2023 match vs Gujarat Titans.
Arjun Tendulkar finally made his IPL debut on April 16 at the venue where his father Sachin played his last international match. The 23-year-old was in good bowling form at the Wankhede Stadium and since then has gone on to play three more matches in IPL 2023. In his first IPL match against Kolkata Knight Riders, he bowled the first and third over, returning with figures of 2-0-17-0.
Then in the next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he conceded 14 runs with the new ball. With SRH's chase reaching the final over, he was assigned to seal the game for Mumbai Indians, with the opposition needing 20 runs and two wickets in hand. Tendulkar held his nerves and conceded only four runs, and also scalped his maiden IPL wicket as MI went on to win the match.
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But in MI's previous fixture against Punjab Kings, he was given a reality check and bowled a 31-run over, where Sam Curran and Harpreet Singh smacked him all over the park. Against PBKS, he bowled three overs, conceded 48 runs and took a wicket.
Speaking about MI's upcoming match on YouTube, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that Sachin's son might be excluded from the playing XI. "There are a few concerns in bowling. You will see either Jason Behrendorff or Riley Meredith along with Jofra Archer. Whether Arjun Tendulkar will play or not, I am not 100% certain. To be very honest, you see a few weaknesses in bowling", he said.
Despite criticising the MI bowling department, Chopra had special praise for veteran spinner Piyush Chawla. Chawla is currently MI's highest wicket-taker with nine wickets. He opined, "Piyush Chawla has done exceedingly well but he didn't bowl his entire quota of overs. Someone said he was injured. He got injured in the 15th over and spin wasn't supposed to come after that in any case. He should have finished his over before that".
Mumbai are currently seventh in the league standings with six points in six matches, packed with three wins and three defeats. When they face GT, they will be aiming to bag two points and get their campaign back on track.