Pranav Dhanawade’s father clears air on the Under-16 selection controversy surrounding his son and Arjun Tendulkar

When Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar got selected for West Zone’s Under-16 team a few days back, little he must have known that he will be dragged into an unwanted controversy. Some images and messages being circulated on social media are questioning his selection despite below-average performance while arguing non-selection of 1,000-run scorer in a single innings — Pranav Dhanawade.

However, Dhanawade’s father himself has come out and quashed all the rumours saying his son was not eligible for selection, so why the controversy? Prashant Dhanawade told the media that certain sections of their fraternity are spreading false stories regarding Pranav’s non-selection. The fact is that West Zone’s U-16 team is picked from the MCA U-16 team, which Pranav was not a part of.

Arjun, who is an all-rounder, was a part of MCA’s team and hence was eligible to be picked. So all the fuss that is being made around the issue is completely uncalled for. He also said that Pranav played his marathon knock of 1,009 not out only after the selection trials, so the question of his selection does not arise. His statement has dismissed all those negative reports which claimed that Arjun was picked because of Tendulkar while Pranav was left out since he is a driver’s son.

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Prashant also said that both Arjun and Pranav are good friends and this controversy has not come in between their friendship. Both have been playing together in the U-19 camps and progressing only because of their talent. While Arjun is an all-rounder, Pranav is a wicket-keeper batsman.