The legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar’s son, Arjun Tendulkar, is in the news these days. The 23-year-old cricketer made his Ranji Trophy debut for Goa last week against Rajasthan, and in his first match itself, he scored a century. By scoring a century in his first game, Arjun matched his father’s feat. Like Arjun, Sachin also scored a century on his Ranji Trophy debut as a 15-year-old in 1988.
Arjun, who has previously represented Mumbai in domestic cricket, moved to Goa before the start of the 2022–23 season. He changed the team to revive his career, as he was not getting enough chances to make a mark. Before the start of the ongoing domestic season, the 23-year-old trained under the watchful eyes of Yograj Singh.
Yograj, who is the father of legendary Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, agreed to work with Arjun at Sachin’s request. And the short training stint that the youngster had with a former Indian pacer did wonders for him.
Yograj trained Arjun in Chandigarh, and recalling the time he spent with the Junior Tendulkar, Yograj recalled an incident when the youngster reminded him of his legendary father Sachin.
In an interview with The Times of India, Yograj said that during one of the training sessions, a throw came straight to Arjun and hit him on the chin. He got injured by that and was bleeding. But the youngster refused to sit back and instead insisted on continuing to play.
“Arjun was fielding, and a direct throw from a boy hit his chin. He was almost bleeding. I looked at his face and said, go and apply some ice to it and come tomorrow. He brought ice and said ‘mai khelega‘. He reminded me of Sachin when he was hit by Waqar’s bouncer. I just hugged Arjun and said, ‘no let’s go to the doctor. There was a lot of swelling on his face. But he came for practice the next day. I just loved his determination,” Yograj recalled.
“I told him, Arjun, duniya se alag chalna padta hai, tabhi aage badhte hain, aur tabhi sab yaad rakhte hain (Arjun, we have to walk on our own path. Only then you will get success and be remembered by all),” he said.
The Sachin incident that Yograj remembered took place during Sachin’s maiden series in 1989. During the fourth game of the Test series, which was played in Sialkot, he was hit on the nose by a bouncer from Waqar Younis. But despite getting injured, Sachin continued to bat and helped India save the game. After being hit, his famous words, “main khelega,” have become part of cricket folklore.
