Sachin Tendulkar has requested Indian media not to create too much hype around his son Arjun Tendulkar as he is just a kid at the moment. Yesterday, Arjun started his professional career by featuring for the first time in a Kanga League game.

Normally, photographers and journalists are not seen covering low profile tournaments like Kanga League, but, yesterday, a lot of them were present at Azad Maidan and the only reason behind their presence was Tendulkar junior who was playing for Young Parsee Cricket club against United Cricket Club.

However, it didn’t prove to be a great day for Arjun, not helped by the pressure of having millions of fans betting on him. He couldn’t make his mark either with bat or ball. While batting, he just managed to score 1 run before being dismissed by the offie Sanjay Solanki and then, with the ball, he went for more than 4 runs an over. He didn’t manage to move the ball significantly and the batsmen looked comfortable facing him.

However, despite Arjun’s poor outing, his team managed to walk away with 1 point from the game.

Tendulkar was talking to the reporters yesterday in an event in Mumbai. When asked about Arjun, he said, “I don’t want Arjun to be put under too much pressure. He is just a kid who loves cricket a lot. It’s the beginning of his career and I want him to be treated just like any other kid.”

When asked about his thoughts on Indian media, Tendulkar said, “I am really grateful to the media for the way they have treated me over the years. They have criticized me at times, but, they have also given me credit when it’s due.”

Apart from Tendulkar, some other great Indian sportspersons including Viren Rasquinha (former hockey player) and Nandu Natekar (former badminton player) were also present in that programme.