In an interesting move, the Mumbai selection committee decided to include 14-year-old Arman Jaffer in the Ranji Trophy probables list along with his uncle and state team stalwart Wasim Jaffer.
In what can be termed a rarity in Indian cricket, 'Chacha-Bhatija' duo will be training together for the same team which also includes Sachin Tendulkar, who would be getting a few first-class games before embarking on Test series in South Africa.
It will be a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for Arman to train alongside a legend like Tendulkar as well as uncle Wasim who is considered one of the finest batsman in domestic cricket. He might get an opportunity to face a Zaheer Khan or a Dhaval Kulkarni at the nets.
Arman has been a force to reckon with in Mumbai's tough school cricket circuit as he became a household name with a knock of 473 in last February for his school Rizvi Springfield in the prestigious Harris Shield final at the Matunga Gymkhana ground. Interestingly, he also scored an astounding 498 in the Giles Shield final back in 2010.
Arman has been a regular member of the Mumbai U-16 squad in the last edition of the Vijay Merchant Trophy.
He may not make the cut in the final squad but this experience will hold him in good stead when he plays for the U-19's in the coming season.
The probables list: Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar, Wasim Jaffer, Arman Jaffer, Zaheer Khan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Suryakumar Yadav, Iqbal Abdulla, Aditya Tare, Hiken Shah, Kshemal Waingankar, Kaustubh Pawar, Siddhesh Lad, Vishal Dabholkar, Ramesh Powar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Javed Khan, Shardul Thakur, Saurabh Netrawalkar, Akhil Herwadkar, Sarfaraz Khan, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr.), Sagar Kerkar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Sarvesh Damle, Atul Singh, Pratik Dabholkar and Avishkar Salvi.
