Yograj also recalled Arjun Tendulkar's 'main khelegaa' moment like his father Sachin's.
Former India cricketer Yograj Singh said that Arjun Tendulkar had the potential to be one of the best cricketers in the world. Singh had recently trained the young all-rounder for a fortnight after getting a call from his father Sachin Tendulkar and a request from Yuvraj as well.
Yograj Singh, who played 1 Test and 6 ODIs for India between 1980 and 1981, recalled getting a phone call from Yuvraj telling him that Sachin Tendulkar will call him and request him to train his son Arjun for some time.
Yograj had to fly to the UK but had 20 days in hand and when Sachin Tendulkar called him and made the request, the former cricketer agreed and asked Sachin to send Arjun to the DAV College ground in Chandigarh to meet him.
Yograj had a long chat with Arjun and then the former India cricketer said one thing and signed off for the day.
'Just forget you are the son of a legend called Sachin Tendulkar. You have your own identity. Just come tomorrow and start training. I will train you for 15 days. When Arjun came. I asked him to run 10 rounds of the stadium. He was running fine. Then I asked him to bowl in the nets. The problem was his left arm was very close to his ear while bowling. I corrected that first. He was a quick learner. He learned this thing very fast. He started bowling well," Yograj told TimesofIndia.com in an interview from the UK.
Arjun Tendulkar moved to Goa from Mumbai changing teams before the ongoing Ranji Trophy season to get more opportunities to play in the first XI and in his debut match, emulated his father by scoring a brilliant century, much like his father had did on his Ranji debut in 1988 against Gujarat.
"The kid is very talented. His leaving the Mumbai cricket team is Mumbai's huge huge loss. They will realise this soon. They have failed to discover his ability. I trained this guy because Sachin and Yuvi requested me. Sachin was worried about his son. He knows that his son is talented that's why he wants him to be taken care of. When I entered the field, I told every bowler to stop treating Arjun as Sachin's son and bowl at him with a fierce pace and produce the best spin against him. Arjun tonked them everywhere. He is a destroyer with the bat," Yograj told TimesofIndia.com.
"He is an all-rounder. Then why were teams sending him down the order? He is a hard-hitting all-rounder like Yuvraj. I see a lot of similarities between Yuvi and Arjun. He will go a long way. One day, the world will remember his name the way they remember Sachin's name. Arjun will become the most destructive batsman in the world," the 64-year-old further said.
Yograj Singh recalled an incident when Arjun reminded him of grit and courage like Sachin had done during his debut Test series in Pakistan in 1989.
Tendulkar was hit on the nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer in Sialkot during his debut series in 1989. Despite the injury, the then 16-year-old continued to bat on fearlessly. His words “main khelega” after being hit have become part of cricketing folklore.
Similarly, while training with Yograj Singh, Arjun was hit on the chin by a throw and the senior cricketer asked him to apply ice and take off the rest of the day.
"Arjun was fielding and a direct throw from a boy hit his chin. He was almost bleeding. I looked at his face and said go and apply some ice on it and come tomorrow. He brought ice and said 'mai khelega'. He reminded me of Sachin when he was hit by Waqar's bouncer. I just hugged Arjun and said no let's go to the doctor. There was a lot of swelling on his face. But he came for practice the next day. I just loved his determination," Yograj recalled.
"Arjun will become one of the best cricketers in the world. I want to make Arjun for Sachin. Arjun will become as fearless as Yuvi. Arjun needed to come out of his father's shadow. I told him - you are Arjun first and then Arjun Tendulkar and Sachin's son,” Yograj signed off.
(Times of India inputs)