Arjun Tendulkar, son of legendary cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar, finally made his debut for Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Sunday (April 16). Mumbai Indians are squaring off against Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium. Arjun, the talented left-arm pacer and a handy batter, was acquired by five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022 auction. He will play his career's first-ever IPL game with his sister and father Sachin present in the stadium. Rohit Sharma did present Arjun with MI cap but he isn't leading the team today, having caught up with an illness related to stomach. In Rohit's absence, Suryakumar Yadav was asked to captain Mumbai Indians against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Watch: viral video of Arjun Tendulkar receiving his Mumbai Indians cap from Rohit Sharma
A look at Arjun Tendulkar's T20 career
Arjun Tendulkar has so far scored 20 runs in nine T20 innings at an average of 5.00 with a strike rate of 68.96. When it comes to bowling, Arjun has bagged 12 wickets in nine T20 innings at an average of 16.50.
At the MI vs KKR toss, Suryakumar Yadav was asked reason behind regular skipper Rohit's absence, to which he said that the senior batter 'has a stomach bug'. Notably, Mumbai Indians won the toss and invited Kolkata to bat first.
"Will love to bowl first, the wicket looks dry. The ball comes onto the bat nicely later. Rohit is out, he has a stomach bug. Time to put up a good show. We are going with one change, Duan Jansen comes in, rest all is same," Suryakumar Yadav said at the toss.
Playing XIs:
Mumbai Indians: Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Riley Meredith
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (capt), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy