Arjun Tendulkar emulated his father Sachin Tendulkar as he smashed a brilliant century on his Ranji Trophy debut 14th December. He was Sent as a nightwatchman and played a brilliant knock on day two of Goa’s Ranji opener against Rajasthan as he scored 120 off 207 balls.
“I remember hearing my father tell someone – this was just when I had started playing for India – someone referred to him as ‘Sachin’s father’. He heard that, and then my father’s friend asked him ‘how do you feel?’ He said, ‘it’s the proudest moment of my life’. Fathers want their children to be recognized by what their child has done,” Sachin was quoted by Hindustan Times.
“Arjun has not led a normal childhood. Being a son of a cricketer who’s been around for quite some time, it’s not so easy. That’s the only reason, when I retired and I was felicitated by the media in Mumbai, my message to them was to allow Arjun to fall in love with cricket, give him that opportunity,” he added.
“It hasn’t been an easy ride for him (Arjun), it’s been a tough journey for him. Someone who can relate to him is possibly Rohan Gavaskar. I did tell him (to go for 100). He was batting on 4 not out, he was sent as a nightwatchman. He asked, ‘what do you think would be a good total?’ They were 210/5 down. I said, ‘at least 375 is what you need to get to’. And he said, ‘are you sure?’ I replied, ‘yeah. you need to go out and get a hundred. Do you believe you can go out and get a 100?’,” said Tendulkar.
