Bollywood star Suniel Shetty, who packed cinema theatres in the 1990s, recently spoke about his love for cricket and a keen eye for rare talent at the ANI News Podcast with veteran journalist Smita Prakash. He said that even now, he would stop and watch youngsters playing cricket and could tell who has the potential of making a future out of it.
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Shetty talks about his love and obsession with the game and how he follows every nitty-gritty pertaining it.
“I’m someone who probably has an eye better than 99% of the selectors anywhere in the world of cricket. Even today when I travel, when I see boys play at a maidan [ground] and I know arre aur 20 minute hain [Only 20 minutes left], I’d park the car, sit them and watch them play, because of my obsession for the sport”, said Shetty in the podcast without mincing his words.
The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) selectors have been under fire many times before. There were times when fans and journalists were upset with Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteswar Pujara getting the long end of the stick despite countless dismal performances, or that time when a journalist lashed out at Chetan Sharma, then selector, for selecting Hardik Pandya, or even up to recently for not giving Sanju Samson his due chance. Although Shetty didn’t spell out the supposed flaws in Indian selectors’ merit, he was simply showing confidence in his prowess to spot talent.
Shetty was a huge fan of KL Rahul, with whom his daughter Athiya Shetty later married. He even revealed that he probably manifested the Indian vice-captain in his life as a son-in-law way before he met him. Despite the numerous attempts online to oust Rahul from the team, Shetty is proud of his son-in-law’s capabilities and believes firmly that he deserves to be in the team. He also gets hurt when Rahul is trolled on social media.
Suniel Shetty’s Tryst With Cricket
Hailing from Mangalore, incidentally, also Rahul’s hometown, Shetty reveals that he wanted to be a cricketer and represent India at the International level. However, as luck would have it, his lane changed to movies.
Shetty heartfully mentions that it might’ve been his talent, or lack thereof that didn’t lead to cricketing dreams being fulfilled. He also touches upon the fact, albeit briefly, about how the politics in Maharashtra was so strong that it wasn’t meant to be for him. Maharashtra, and Mumbai more so, has been the hub of Indian cricket for a long now. From the late 80s to the early 90s, the state bestowed India with cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Salil Ankola, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Iqbal Siddiqui, etc.
Shetty, still an ardent and die-hard lover of the game, has captained the Mumbai Heroes in Celebrity Cricket League, owned by his good friend Sohail Khan. The captaincy has passed on to Riteish Deshmukh and they won their only championship in 2019.
