Left-arm pacer is busy remodelling his action
Arjun Tendulkar
Those expecting to see Sachin Tendulkar's son Arjun, 18, live on TV for the first time are in for a disappointment as the lanky left-arm pacer has decided to not participate in the much-awaited T20 Mumbai League, the Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) inaugural IPL-style tournament that begins on March 11.
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It is learnt that Arjun has not registered for the league's auction which will be conducted on Saturday. Interestingly, Tendulkar is the brand ambassador of the T20 tournament.
Arjun will not participate as he is in the middle of remodelling his bowling action, it is learnt. "His last competitive game was on January 27. Since then he is progressing well. We just want to complete the whole process. At that time, we did not know that this [T20 Mumbai League] would come up. He has now gone a long way into it [remodelling his action]," a source in the scheme of things, told mid-day yesterday.
"What happens is that the tendency is to go back to your old habits. Ideally, one would want to focus on what you are doing and then sort that out. It should come out as naturally as possible," the source added.
It is learnt that the suggestion to skip the T20 Mumbai League did not come from Tendulkar Sr. "Sachin did not ask Arjun to skip this tournament. Arjun was slightly confused about which action he should bowl with. He has had a good season, but you always want to get better and take your game to the next level. It is important for the process to get completed because once he is through with it, it will be forever," the source said.
Arjun, who is working on his action with bio-mechanics expert Atul Gaikwad, is expected to be back playing competitive cricket with his new action by April.
"There cannot be an exact timeframe to this because it is about how comfortable you are feeling. By April, he should be able to bowl comfortably [with the new action]. He has been working on this since January 28. It takes some time. Hopefully, he should be ready for the next season," said the source.
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