Mumbai Indians have nothing to lose as they head into the last leg of their IPL 2022 campaign. Having been ousted early from the play-offs race, the 5-time champions will look to test their bench strength in the upcoming games, keeping an eye on the future.

Mumbai Indians are known for their willingness to promote young talents and they have reaped the benefits of doing so consistently over the years. Even during their horror run this year, the 5-time champions handed debuts to promising young talents, including South Africa’s Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Hrithik Shokeen, and Kumar Kartikeya. Notably, all of them managed to grab their opportunities and contribute to the team at various stages of their campaign.

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In fact, Mumbai Indians ended their 8-match losing run against Rajasthan Royals on April 30 riding on useful contributions from Kartikeya, Shokeen, Varma along with the match-winning fifty from Suryakumar Yadav.

Responding to questions during a media conference on the eve of MI’s 10th game of IPL 2022 against Gujarat Titans, head coach Mahela Jayawardene shared his thoughts on the possibility of the side handing a debut to Arjun Tendulkar.

Arjun, was bought by Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2022 auction for Rs 30 lakh. Notably, the young left-arm pacer also got a bid worth Rs 25 lakh from Gujarat Titans.

“Well, I think everyone is the squad is an option. We will see how things go. It is about match-ups and how we can win the matches and our priority is to make sure that we get the right match-ups.

“Every game is a confidence thing, we managed to get our first win and it is about stringing wins together and get the confidence back. It is about putting the best guys in the park. If Arjun is one of them, then we will consider it, yes, but it all depends on the combination that we put out,” Mahela Jayawardene said.

Arjun was ruled out of the IPL 2021 season during the 2nd half ot the tournament in the UAE due to an injury. He did not play a single game throughout the season. Arjun was brought into the mix at Mumbai Indians despite the young cricketer not having played competitive cricket since January 2021.