If the Indian cricket team is looking to fill up any remaining spot for the 15-member squad in the World Cup, they might have to look beyond just cricket. Perhaps the film industry might be the answer. Well, if coach Ravi Shastri, captain Virat Kohli and selector MSK Prasad are fretting over the squad, their answers might just have been answered by Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi.
Cricket is followed like a religion in India and its players are treated with the same respect as Gods. If there is anything else that can match the euphoria around of 'the gentleman's game' it is Bollywood. Thus, when both come together, it becomes an event of great rejoicing and is accompanied with immense fanfare.
In the wake of India's full throttle preparations for the World Cup, an old video of Bollywood stars playing cricket has resurfaced. With India looking to fill up a couple of spots that are still open ahead of the World Cup, perhaps this video will help them finalise things ahead of the quadrennial event.
In the video that has resurfaced, we can see Akshay Kumar batting in wearing a dark blue jersey and Arshad Warsi bowling wearing a light blue jersey in a cricket match featuring celebrities.
Celebrity Cricket. #AkshayKumar batting #ArshadWarsi bowling. Courtesy- 90s Kids. @akshaykumar @ArshadWarsi @AnupamPKher pic.twitter.com/dyvYMJRKJD
— Bollywoodirect (@Bollywoodirect) January 30, 2019
The first ball that Arshad bowled would have been declared a no-ball in a professional cricket match but Akshay managed to negotiate it by wielding the bat like a sword. But maybe, this can be India's secret weapon in the World Cup – a beamer.
The second ball would have been a dangerous bouncer had the ball bounced but once again Akshay managed to negotiate it well by pulling it to deep fine leg where Anupam Kher was fielding. The third ball was bowled to Ajay Jadeja and he played it well for a single to give the strike back to Akshay. Surprisingly, this was a good length ball that bounced.
The fourth ball saw Arshad back in form as he bowled a full toss that hit Akshay's waist. While Akshay looked surprised, Arshad almost fell over in appeal. LBW? The umpire did not think so. At this point, the crowd started chanting for the batsman and he was shadowing a straight drive. Maybe Akshay was signalling Arshad to shun his full tosses and bowl a full pitch ball instead.
But the protagonist of Jolly LLB did not change his ways and bowled another beamer to the protagonist of Jolly LLB 2 who hit it high in the air towards Anil Kapoor. But the Mr. India star made a real "1 2 ka 4" of the catch and dropped it.
This was a match between Sachin Tendulkar XI and Hrithik Roshan XI with Arshad representing the former and Akshay the latter.
With the squad for the home series against Australia due to be announced tomorrow, maybe the Indian team will feature one of these two fine gentlemen very soon.
