The selection of Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar in the Mumbai Ranji team has triggered a nepotism charge, prompting Chief Selector Salil Ankola to issue a clarification.
No sooner did news of junior Tendulkar being included in the Mumbai Ranji team become public, fans began to debate if the cricket was falling victim to the phenomenon of nepotism. One wrote, “Nepotism at its best.” Another commented, “Just imagine the pressure of being Arjun Tendulkar. If not selected, termed useless, If selected then nepotism. Poor guy.”
Ankola, who made his international debut with Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan in 1989, told Indian Express, ““Arjun (Tendulkar) has been bowling well, unfortunately, he was injured in between but he did well in whatever games he played thereafter. We have picked a team looking at the future of Mumbai cricket.”
Ankola said that Tushar Deshpande was injured but ‘it’s a promising team.’ “It’s a mixed team where we have picked players from under-19 and also who have been part of the Mumbai team for a few years,” he added.
Arjun Tendulkar was quoted as saying that he felt honoured to be selected to represent Mumbai in the prestigious Ranji Trophy. “It is like a dream come true for me. I am eagerly waiting to give my best to the team,” he said.
Tendulkar had to face a huge backlash in February this year when Arjun Tendulkar was bought by Mukesh Ambani-owned Mumbai Indians in the IPL auction.
The Mumbai team will be captained by Prithvi Shaw. Other members of the team are Yashasvi Jaiswal, Drew Gomel, Armaan Jaffer, Sarfaraz Khan, Sachin Yadav, Aditya Tare (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shivam Dubey, Aman Khan, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Prashant Solanki, Shashank Attard, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Awasthi, Prince Badiyani, Siddharth Raut, Roystan Dias and Arjun Tendulkar.
Mumbai will play their first match against Maharashtra on 13 January.