High five for Arjun Tendulkar, Sujit Nayak

Arjun Tendulkar and Sujit Nayak

Sachin Tendulkar and Suru Nayak once played for the same Mumbai Ranji Trophy team. On Saturday, their sons - Arjun and Sujit - emerged as the costliest players of the T20 Mumbai League Season 2 auction.

Arjun, who represented India U-19 recently and fellow all-rounder Sujit, were bought for R5 lakh each [the maximum bid price] by Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb and NaMo Bandra Blasters respectively.

Arjun, who was not part of the inaugural player auction last year as he was working on his bowling action, was picked up in a matter of minutes. When auctioneer Charu Sharma asked teams to bid for Arjun, whose base price was R1 lakh, ARCS Andheri started with R3 lakh. Triumph Knights and North Mumbai Panthers followed it up with R3.5 lakh and R4 lakh respectively.

Mumbai's senior players Suryakumar Yadav (left) and Siddhesh Lad during the T20 Mumbai League auction at a five-star hotel in Lower Parel on Saturday. Pic/Shadab Khan

Both teams then increased the bidding to 50,000 each respectively. However, none of the above teams succeeded in getting Arjun, as according to the Opportunity to Match (OTM) rule, two new teams - Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb and Eagle Thane Strikers came into the fray and the first one were lucky to get the left-arm pacer by a draw of lots.

Aakash Tigers coach Wilkin Mota, who guided Arjun during his stint as Mumbai U-19 coach, reckoned Arjun was a great asset. "More than the fact that he is Sachin's son, he is doing very well for the last couple of years. There are very few all-rounders in Mumbai currently and he is an upcoming one. The added advantage is that he is a left-arm bowler," Mota told mid-day.

Meanwhile, Triumph Knights coach Atul Ranade, a childhood friend of Sachin, said: "It's nice to see him (Arjun) play. We knew a lot of teams would go for him and that's what happened." Sujit, who had a base price of R50,000, smashed an unbeaten 99 for SoBo Supersonics against ARCS Andheri last year. He went to NaMo Bandra Blasters by a draw of lots.

Other players who attracted the team owners were: All-rounders Sairaj Patil (R4.40 lakh, North Mumbai Panthers), Rohan Raje (R4.20, SoBo Supersonics), Akarshiit Gomel (R4.20, Aakash Tigers) and batsman Sagar Mishra (R4 lakh, Eagle Thane Strikers).

Seven promising Mumbai U-19 players including Yashasvi Jaiswal were excluded from the auction as they will not be available for the May 14 to 26 tournament due to BCCI's U-19 Zonal coaching camp.

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