Bollywood actor & producer Farhan Akhtar on Saturday took to Twitter to defend Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar and asked people not to murder his enthusiasm and weigh him down before he begun with their accusation of nepotism.

"I feel I should say this about #Arjun_Tendulkar. We frequent the same gym & I’ve seen how hard he works on his fitness, seen his focus to be a better cricketer. To throw the word ‘nepotism’ at him is unfair & cruel. Don’t murder his enthusiasm & weigh him down before he’s begun." He tweeted.

On Thursday, Mumbai Indians picked up Arjun Tendulkar in the IPL 2021 auction for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. After which, many people on social media question his selection into the squad and brought up the nepotism debate in cricket.

Also Read | IPL 2021 Auction: Last buy of the evening, Arjun Tendulkar joins Mumbai Indians

Earlier, Mumbai Indian head coach Mahela Jayawardene and director of cricket operation Zaheer Khan also argued in favour of the 21-year-old all-rounder, stating that he was picked up purely on a skill basis.