‘He did all that was asked of him’ – Shane Bond reflects on Arjun Tendulkar’s performance against Gujarat Titans

Arjun Tendulkar against PBKS. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered their fourth defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season on April 25, playing against Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans (GT). The five-time champions could not perform to the best of their abilities as they conceded too many runs during the latter stages of the first innings.

As Gujarat posted 207/6 in the first innings, many questioned why Arjun Tendulkar was not given the ball during the death overs. The 23-year-old bowled only two overs against Gujarat, both of which were in the powerplay. Tendulkar dismissed Wriddhiman Saha early on and conceded just nine runs in the two overs that he bowled.

Talking about the same, Mumbai’s bowling coach Shane Bond came to the front and reflected upon the same. Bond opined that the 23-year-old only did what was asked of him.

Would like him to work on increasing his pace: Shane Bond on Arjun Tendulkar

“He did well today [Tuesday]. After what happened in the last game, it’s never easy to step out onto the ground that is a Colosseum with a big crowd. Obviously, we would like him to work on increasing his pace a little bit, but he did all that was asked of him today,” Bond said during the post-match press conference.

During the chase, Mumbai got off to the worst of starts as skipper Rohit Sharma was dismissed for just two runs. Furthermore, Ishan Kishan, too, failed to make an impact and was sent back for 13 off 21. Nehal Wadhera played a quickfire knock down the order as he amassed 40 runs off 21 balls. However, Gujarat’s bowling attack proved to be too much to handle for Mumbai in the end, as the defending champions won the game by 55 runs.

The Titans have won five of their seven games thus far and are placed second in the points table while the Mumbai Indians have lost four and won three in as many games to occupy the seventh position.