Arjun Tendulkar bowling to the Indian batsmen in nets is no longer a wow sight. The Indian captain using him to prepare for the opponent's strike bowler definitely is.
The junior Tendulkar has been spending time with Kohli and Co. whenever Team India travels to England. Like the Champions Trophy last year and the ODI series last month, Arjun was spotted in the nets ahead of India’s second Test match at Lord’s. This time though, it was more in India’s need than Arjun’s.
The reason for Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane facing a lot of deliveries from Arjun ahead of the 2nd Test match is England’s Sam Curran. India having no left-arm medium pacer in their 18-member squad, the team management decided to make full use of Sachin’s son to help the Indian top order get used to the left-arm over angle.
Curran, the only left-arm seamer in both the teams, caused a lot of trouble to the Indian batsmen, especially with his inward movement. Curran picked up three wickets in a space of 8 balls in India’s first innings of the Birmingham Test match, nipping out Murali Vijay, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan with his late swing. The 20-year-old Surrey all-rounder even had Kohli playing across the line a few times, prompting the Indian think tank to take a note of his late swing.
With the Lord’s slope creating favourable angles for more swing, India did not want to go in unprepared. India head coach Ravi Shastri asked Arjun to bowl close to the batsman to stop them from their tendency to fall over.
Arjun, still in his early days as a cricketer, has not yet developed the incoming delivery to the right-hander like Curran but has a fair idea of where and how to bowl with the red ball. It was his control that caught everyone’s attention during his maiden international tour to Sri Lanka (with the India U19, despite him not picking up a bag full of wickets (2 wickets in 2 four-day games).