Arjun and Arshdeep: Born in 1999, two left-armers face contrasting fortunes in Wankhede meeting

Born in 1999, they each are left-arm pacers. Being from the identical batch, one represented India in Under-19 ‘Tests’ in 2018, whereas the opposite made the lower for the Under-19 World Cup the identical 12 months. Despite the similarities, their maiden outing as opponents within the Indian Premier League ended up in a stark distinction on the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday evening.

Facing a stiff process of defending 15 runs within the final over, Arshdeep Singh not solely conceded simply two runs but additionally broke the stump twice to assist Punjab Kings full its second comeback of the evening that resulted in a memorable win from a near-hopeless scenario.

Had it not been for the sixteenth over of the evening, bowled by the opposite left-arm pacer – Arjun Tendulkar – the Kings’ comeback might effectively have by no means begun within the first place. After all, the 31-run over began off a half-an-hour insanity that resulted within the Kings including 96 runs within the final 5 overs.

Despite their starkly totally different outings, each the left-arm pacers have had their share of being overtly criticised. Arshdeep has bounced again after going through flak for dropping a easy catch in opposition to Pakistan over the last 12 months’s Asia Cup. Arjun, however, has been coping with the strain of following into the footsteps of his well-known father ever since he took up cricket.

Heaping reward on Arshdeep for his management, Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher admitted that Arjun, enjoying solely his third IPL match, will discover it tough to take care of the over that went awry for him.

“It will be tough on him (Arjun), coming in to bowl at the back end at Wankhede where the conditions were good to bat on. He, may be, got one or two (deliveries) wrong, he probably felt under the pressure but he will live and learn from it,” Boucher mentioned after the Kings escaped to a 13-run win.

“It is not the end of the world; it is still not the early days but mid days in the IPL and, hopefully, he will come back stronger. He has full support of the support staff and players to try and get over this as quickly as possible.”