Cricketers and the Bollywood stars of India have mostly the same appeal to the public.
Apart from the players’ daily grind for their bowling and betting sport, they share the same experience of being at the focus of dozens of cameras. They are interviewed by numerous TV personalities and asked tons of questions which can be or not be about cricket.
With these iconic players making the cricket betting odds fly with sixes and fours, it is expected for fans to come running and shouting for their autographs and memorabilia. Cricketers share the same fame that brings most Bollywood stars to the limelight, perhaps even more.
So today, we take our hats off for the nine cricketers who also batted for Bollywood films!
1. Sachin Tendulkar
In his 24 years of playing cricket, Sachin surely became one of the best cricketers in the history of the sport. With the title as one of the greatest batsmen in the world, the former captain earned multiple awards before settling down his bat and ball.
He still holds the legacy of being the only player to have a hundred international centuries scored, a double century in an ODI and more than 30,000 runs on the international field.
For being an excellent cricket player, Tendulkar has tons of awards granted to him by the sports league and the Indian government, even India’s highest civilian awards and the rank of a group captain of the Indian Air Force.
Tendulkar had cameos in a few Bollywood films including Kabhie Ajnabi The and Stumped. He has an upcoming movie that will be about his life where he would also be in.
2. Kapil Dev
This legendary cricketer broke tons of records in his cricket career. His legacy as a great batsman, all-rounder, captain and more is yet to be equalled and will forever be remembered by avid cricket fans in India and all over the world.
Kapil Dev Ram Lal Nikhanj started his career in cricket in the Haryana domestic cricket team. With adequate performance, he excelled in this career from 1975 until 1981. Dev started his amazing legend in 1978 when he had his Test cricket debut in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Years later, he became the team captain of the India Team when they won the 1983 World Cup.
Dev played for the Men in Blue until 1994 when he retired as the only player who has taken more than 400 wickets (434) and scored more than 5000 runs. Being a great all-rounder and a great captain, this legendary cricketer was included in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2010.
Kapil Dev took up golf in 1994 and has dived into creating literature. He has made cameos in various Bollywood films. Dev’s life is retold in the film 83 where he is portrayed by actor Ranveer Singh.
3. Vinod Kambli
This left-handed power hitter and right-handed bowler played cricket since he was a kid until his first-class cricket retirement in 2011. He played for the international India team and on domestic plays for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. He has a legacy of being the first man to earn a century in One-day international cricket on his birthday.
He became the commentator of various channels plus a voice on the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He has many stable Bollywood series and films as an actor.
4. Yuvraj Singh
This aggressive left-handed batter and bowler dominated all forms of cricket in his career from 1996 until 2019. He started in the game as a 13-year old on the Punjab Team. In 2000, he debuted into the international field of cricket for the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy.
In his entire cricket career, Singh won tons of awards and prestigious positions. This includes being the vice-captain of the Indian ODI team (2006-2007), the Man of the Tournament award at the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the Arjuna Award.
Although he was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, Singh successfully came back and continued his career until 2019.
Because he started his career very early, Singh’s share in the world of entertainment also roots back to his 11-year old cameo in a Punjabi movie. He also voiced a role in the Bollywood animated film, Jumbo.
5. Sunil Gavaskar
A renowned Test player on the Bombay and Indian Cricket Team, Sunil ‘Sunny’ Manohar Gavaskar holds records for most runs and centuries earned by a batsman in Test. He also was the first to earn three centuries in both innings of a Test match.
Admired for his fast-bowling technique, Sunny was drafted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009 and received the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India.
Sunny has an up and down career in films and music. He earned the main role in Savli Premachi and a supporting role in Maalamaal. He also created the song Ya Duniyemadhye Thambayaala Vel Konala which was about cricket and real life.
6. Sandeep Patil
Patil was a hard-hitting medium bowler and a middle batsman when he played for the India Cricket Team in 1980 in Test and ODIs. He retired from first-class professional cricket in 1986 and came back as a coach to the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Team.
His cricket career continued through his coaching of the Indian national team and as a chairman of selectors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Patil starred beside Syed Kirmani in the Indian musical and romantic drama Kabhie Ajnabi The. He was offered this after India’s win in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
7. Syed Kirmani
This renowned wicket-keeper has served in various cricket teams in India from 1971 until 1986. In his debuting years, Kirmani took the expectations of the people around him to another level, topping world records and batting averages against international foes.
Kirmani led a very successful 15 years in the blue team, even scoring the Best Wicket Keeper award in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. In 2016, he also earned the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India.
For his share in pop culture, Kirmani has acted in two films with another one set for this year. Kirmani starred in Kabhie Ajnabi The (1985) and Mazhavillinattam Vare (2012).
8. Ajay Jadeja
Born to the Nawanagar royal family, Jadeja had an amazing family background and talent that was perfect for cricket. Quickly heading off to international matches from 1992 to 2000, this former batsman joined 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals.
Jadeja was quite renowned in his stay with the Men in Blue. He was praised for having the ‘safest pair of hands’ in the Indian team.
His career ended after a match-fixing scandal which earned him a 5-year ban in the sports league. His penalty was removed in 2003 and he came back to the game as a commentator.
The former fielder starred in various films and joined various TV series. Mixing his two media personas, Jadeja even acted in Abhishek Kapoor’s Kai Po Che! where he acted as a cricket commentator, himself.
9. Salil Ankola
Batting from 1989 to 1998, Ankola quickly got noted for his right-arm fast bowling. Ankola started off in first-class cricket with Maharashtra. In 1993, he was scouted to join the Indian ODI Team until they finally headed to one of his biggest cricket scenes, one match against Sri Lanka in the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
Salil Ankola contracted his bone tumor (osteoid osteoma) years later which stopped his run for about 2 years, forcing him to quit cricket. Salil Ashok Ankola debuted in the big screens in 2000 as a cop in Kurukshetra. He was cast in films and tv series as well.