Last Wednesday, Arjun Tendulkar followed the footsteps of his father when he slammed a century on Ranji Trophy debut. Representing Goa, Arjun, 23, scored 120 playing his maiden First-Class match against Rajasthan in Porvorim… 34 years after Sachin Tendulkar had notched up an unbeaten hundred against Gujarat. Arjun's spectacular feat, replicating his father's historic achievement took the world by storm, but one man who has played a big role in the youngster's growth is former India cricketer Yograj Singh, father of the two-time World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh.
Earlier this year, Arjun switched from Mumbai to Goa to explore bigger and better opportunities, and associated himself with Yograj to train and get ready for the big league. Ahead of the Ranji Trophy, when Yograj was about to leave for the UK, Sachin reached out to him through Yuvraj… and the rest, as they say, is history.
"Yuvraj said, 'Papa, Sachin paaji will call you. He will talk to you about his son. Please help him'," Yograj told Times of India. "I trained him because Yuvi and Sachin requested me. And I didn't want to say no to Sachin. He was just concerned about his son. He knows that his son is talented that's why he wants him to be taken care of."
Arjun is primarily a bowling all-rounder. Known more for his left-arm pacer, over the years Arjun has worked on his batting skills as well, which came to the fore against Rajasthan. Arjun hit 16 fours and two sixes while batting at No. 7 and stitched a 221-run partnership with Suyash Prabhudesai for Goa's seventh wicket. Having observed Arjun's batting from close quarters, Yograj has made a huge prediction about the 23-year-old backing him to become a cricketer as big as his father.
{{/usCountry}}Arjun is primarily a bowling all-rounder. Known more for his left-arm pacer, over the years Arjun has worked on his batting skills as well, which came to the fore against Rajasthan. Arjun hit 16 fours and two sixes while batting at No. 7 and stitched a 221-run partnership with Suyash Prabhudesai for Goa's seventh wicket. Having observed Arjun's batting from close quarters, Yograj has made a huge prediction about the 23-year-old backing him to become a cricketer as big as his father.
{{/usCountry}}"He is an all-rounder. Then why were teams sending him down the order? He is a hard-hitting all-rounder like Yuvraj. I see a lot of similarities between Yuvi and Arjun. He will go a long way. One day, the world will remember his name the way they remember Sachin's name. Arjun will become the most destructive batsman in the world," he pointed out.
"I told Sachin one thing 'Keep Arjun away from his mother'. No mother wants to see her kid injured, swollen, or bleeding. I told Sachin that I wanted Arjun to remain focused and keep doing what he has been doing. I told Sachin that your son is talented and Mumbai lost this talent. Arjun will become one of the best cricketers in the world. I want to make Arjun for Sachin. Arjun will become as fearless as Yuvi. Arjun needed to come out of his father's shadow. I told him - you are Arjun first and then Arjun Tendulkar and Sachin's son."