Mumbai Indians (MI) had a disappointing run in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The Rohit Sharma-led side lost eight successive matches this season before finally registering their maiden victory against Rajasthan Royals (RR) last week.
The five-time champions will return to action on Friday when they take on table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Having been ousted early from the play-offs race, MI will look to test their bench strength in the upcoming games, keeping an eye on the future.
The most successful franchise has already handed debuts to promising young talents, like Tilak Varma, Hrithik Shokeen, Kumar Kartikeya and South Africa’s Dewald Brevis. All of them managed to grab the opportunities with both hands and contributed to the team at various stages of their campaign.
MI has tried different combinations in their XI in the fifteenth season of the cash-rich league. However, one player who is yet to feature for the side is youngster Arjun Tendulkar. Arjun was bought by MI in the IPL 2022 auction, held earlier this year, for INR 30 lakh. Interestingly, the young left-arm pacer also got a bid worth INR 25 lakh from Gujarat.
Now the red-hot question is whether MI will hand a debut cap to Arjun this season or not. Well, responding to questions during a media conference on the eve of MI’s 10th game against GT, head coach Mahela Jayawardene shared his thoughts on the possibility of Arjun playing his first game in the lucrative league.
Jayawardene said it all depends on the combination they go with in a particular match, and if the junior Tendulkar fits in the scheme of things, then he might make his debut.
“Well, I think everyone in the squad is an option. We will see how things go. It is about match-ups and how we can win the matches, and our priority is to make sure that we get the right match-ups. Every game is a confidence thing, we managed to get our first win, and it is about stringing wins together and get the confidence back. It is about putting the best guys in the park. If Arjun is one of them, then we will consider it, yes, but it all depends on the combination we put out,” said Jayawardene, as quoted by India Today.
