Importance of being Tendulkar

Watching Tendulkar junior wasn't a routine event as it would have been to watch Arjun go out on the field. There's a lot in the surname, and Arjun is gradually sizing up to the fact. And so are his Mumbai teammates.  

It was 11.35 by the clock. A tall boy, quietly waiting on the sidelines under an umbrella, walked in to bat at the fall of a wicket. 

Routine event. 

At 19 years and 57 days, this boy was playing the under-19 Cooch Beher trophy. 

Another routine event, courtesy the BCCI cut-off rules. 

In this day and age of prodigies like Prithvi Shaw, watching a Tendulkar go out to bat. 

Not a routine event, surely.

Watching Tendulkar junior wasn't a routine event as it would have been to watch Arjun go out on the field. There's a lot in the surname, and Arjun is gradually sizing up to the fact. And so are his Mumbai teammates.  

Arjun Tendulkar hanged around a bit until he was cleaned up at the stroke of lunch. He returned with the ball -- and Arjun is a bowler --to bowl an impressive first spell of six overs for 16, beating the bat occasionally and returned for another spell towards the day end with the semi-new SG Tournament ball. He set up Delhi batsman Priyansh Arya with a dummy, almost got a wicket with the short-ball and was furious with the keeper for not latching on to it and got the ball to come in sharply. 

Yet, for a player who has batted 25 minutes for an innings of 5 runs and bowled 11 wicketless overs, the description of his cricketing activities have been unreal. Not even a Team India player gets such detailed attention for this. Not unless you are a declining MS Dhoni or a rising Virat Kohli. 
Or, perhaps you can get if you are Arjun Tendulkar. Some call it intense media scrutiny. It can be rather labelled as media curiosity. But there are fringe benefits of playing with and against Tendulkar junior. 

On Tuesday, the Feroz Shah Kotla was buzzing with news of Sachin Tendulkar dropping in to watch his son play. A board official had tipped in with a message that "Sachin sir" might just come around 2 pm. It was natural for a father to come and watch his son play. Yet it just upped the excitement. For obvious reasons. That there was a junior national selector watching just added to the ambience. 

What if Sachin would watch Divyaansh score a chanceless double hundred, a typical khadoos Mumbai style knock. What if he would have watched an R Ashwin style copy-cat, an excellent off-spinner with great revs on the ball called Praful Devkate? What if he had watched Priyansh Arya's stylish cover drives? 

Of course, Sachin never came but even the thought of him coming to watch set up a nice ambience amongst both teams, not to talk about the media frenzy it stirred. Arjun is driving his own following on the ground as much as Ziva, Dhoni's daughter on the social media. People come to watch Tendulkar's son play cricket. The fans want to know how he's shaping up.    
It was ironical that Sachin's sponsor commitments prevented him from watching his own son play. The jibe, perhaps is more directed at the disappointment of not getting that moment of a Tendulkar on and off the field in one frame. Or maybe, Sachin didn't want to put his son under needless pressure. Or perhaps, a now retired Sachin can't soak the pressure of media dissecting each of his reactions on his son's deliveries.   
Arjun is a good bowler, who is in able hands of his set of personal coaches. He's an India under-19 player who is growing up on his own terms. But Arjun Tendulkar will always garner attention. Much more like any famous father's son. Arjun is now okay with it. Everyone else now needs to be okay with it. That he's working his way up. Gradually. Even a Tendulkar may have to go through the grind. Or maybe, that too is a blessing in disguise.