Why Arjun Tendulkar has a difficult journey ahead?

When you are Sachin Tendulkar's son, the burden of expectations is humungous. But what wrong has Arjun Tendulkar done that he is not treated as just another young player trying to play the sport he loves!

The Master Blaster’s son Arjun has been selected for the India U-19 side that will tour Sri Lanka for two four-day games. Arjun is a left arm fast bowler and a decent lower middle order batsman. He is considered quite a quick pacer at his age. But Tendulkar Junior would know that he has a difficult journey ahead.

For an 18-year-old getting selected in the U-19 team for a Sri Lanka tour must be a big thing but surely not worthy of getting the media attention. But being a Tendulkar comes with a lot of side effects as well, something he would know by now as he has garnered a lot of media hype ever since he started playing age-group cricket professionally. In September 2017, he got picked in the one-day team for the JY Lele invitational tournament in Baroda. Then also there was a lot of media frenzy that about whether he would be able to fill in his father’s big shoes or not. At that time Sachin also made a plea to let Arjun play the sport like a normal young cricketer and not burden him with scrutiny.

For a cricketer of his age Arjun has a lot of international exposure. He has played for a number of representative clubs in India and England. He trains at the indoor academy at Lord’s and has also been a nets bowler to members of England team. He is also a regular net bowler for the Indian team whenever they play in Mumbai. Early this year, he scored a 27-ball 48 as an opener apart from scalping four wickets for a Cricket Club of India XI against a Hong Kong-based side at the Bradman Oval in Adelaide. In July 2017, Arjun also represented an MCC squad that faced Namibia U-19 side in England, where he picked up four wickets in his first match.

Apart from this, Arjun picked up 19 wickets in 5 matches for Mumbai U-19 side in the 2017-18 Cooch Behar Trophy, which also included two five-wicket hauls. He is being trained by former India fast bowler Subroto Banerjee, a close friend of Sachin. But despite such a rich exposure, it wouldn’t be easy for Arjun to qualify to the next level. Every time he fails, he would be compared to his dad.

For a young cricketer, that much media attention would be difficult to cope up with. Just because he is Sachin Tendulkar’s son doesn’t mean that he should be compared to him every time he plays. Not every great player’s kids have to be as good as their parents. They should be judged on whichever level they are playing at and with other players of their age group, not with their famous parents.

What he can do is continue to enjoy and excel in a sport that he plays and let his performances speak for him. And as far as the unwanted media attention that he gets, he should try to ignore it and concentrate on cricket to keep his journey simple and easy. Maybe one day we could again see a Tendulkar doing well for the Indian national team!