Cricket and cinema have had a close relationship in India. Star players who have represented India have gone on to act in films since the times of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev to the soon-to-be-launched Shikhar Dhawan. Cricketers who have acted in films include the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh. But today we talk about the cricket star who arguably tasted as much success on the screen as he achieved on the pitch.
Have you already identified this cricketer-turned-actor? His name is Salil Ankola.
He broke into the Indian cricket team as a rising star at a young age of 20. Ankola retired from the game still relatively young at 28 and then made a starring Bollywood debut alongside one of the biggest action heroes.
Ankola broke into the Indian Test team at just 21 after a string of consistent performances in the domestic circuit. He made his Test debut alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis, both of whom eventually became cricketing greats.
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On the other hand, injuries hampered Ankola’s progress in the national side after just one Test and 3 ODIs. But Ankola made a comeback in 1993-1994 when he was selected again and played 11 ODIs. The tall medium-pacer played 6 more matches before quitting cricket in 1997.
Turning to acting, Ankola famously debuted alongside Sanjay Dutt in Kurukshetra in 2000. He went on to act in several films and TV shows. He has acted alongside several other big Bollywood stars like Sunny Leone, Shruti Haasan, Jackie Shroff and Zayed Khan. He was also a Bigg Boss participant in the show’s first season.
As a cricket administrator, Ankola was named the chief selector for the Mumbai Cricket association in 2020.
