The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 started with a moment that no one had seen coming when Arjun Tendulkar walked out to open the innings for Goa in the match against Uttar Pradesh at the Jadavpur University Campus ground in Kolkata on Wednesday (November 26).
Arjun Tendulkar, son of great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, played a new role in the opening match of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 and surprised everyone. Even the left-arm pacer managed to impress everyone with his bold approach, clean hitting and ability to adapt to a completely new role.
Arjun Tendulkar surprised the cricket world by opening for Goa in the first match of SMAT 2025.
Playing as an opening batsman for Goa, the left-handed batsman played a quickfire inning of 28 runs off 22 balls. His innings was short but full of intent, including four fours that showed he was not afraid to take charge at the top.
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He opened the batting with Ishan Gadekar, who also made a great start, but was out after being bowled by veteran fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 16 runs in 10 balls.
After the fall of one wicket, Arjun carried the momentum and got strong support from Abhinav Tejrana (72 runs off 35 balls). Together they made a valuable partnership of 55 runs for the second wicket, which gave Goa a strong base during the powerplay.
After Arjun Tendulkar’s explosive start, Goa’s score is 172/9.
Arjun mixed strong strokes with aggressive shots and showed surprising ease in a position where he rarely plays. His innings was ended by Uttar Pradesh fast bowler Shivam Mavi in the 8th over, leaving Goa at 75 for 2 in 7.3 overs. He scored these runs at a strike rate of more than 127.
Later, Vikash Kanwar Singh’s 21* and Rajshekhar Harikant’s valuable 12 runs took Goa to 172/9 in their 20 overs against Uttar Pradesh in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 match.
For Uttar Pradesh, Shivam Mavi took three wickets, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets. On the other hand, Sunil Kumar, Vipraj Nigam and Prashant Veer took one wicket each in the ongoing SAMT 2025 match in Kolkata.
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Arjun Tendulkar’s career statistics; LSG eyeing a successful season
Meanwhile, Arjun Tendulkar has played 24 T20s so far and has taken 27 wickets at an average of 25.07 and an economy rate of 8.75, and has scored 119 runs with a highest score of 47 runs. In 22 FC matches, Tendulkar took 48 wickets and scored 620 runs, which included one century and two fifties.
The 26-year-old player has also played 18 List-A matches so far, taking 24 wickets and scoring more than 100 runs. In IPL, Arjun has batted only once and scored 13 runs facing nine balls.
Tendulkar’s IPL journey took a new turn earlier this month. After spending a few seasons with Mumbai Indians, the young all-rounder was sold to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for Rs 30 lakh ahead of the IPL 2026 mini-auction in December.
This will be a fresh start for the great cricketer’s son and hopefully he will get more opportunities to grow and prove himself in a different environment. Now he will play for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2026 under the captaincy of Rishabh Pant.
