Meet actor who once played for India in world cup with Sachin, later became TV star but flopped in Bollywood; is now...
This actor was once in India's cricket team and played with Sachin Tendulkar, but later left cricket for acting and became TV star.
From Shikhar Dhawan to Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh, many cricketers have made appearances in movies and TV shows but none of them thought of a full-fledged career in acting. However, there is one cricketer, who was a fast bowler, but later left cricket to become an actor and emerged as a star on TV.
The actor we are talking about played the World Cup for India with Sachin Tendulkar but later gave several hit shows. He tried his luck in Bollywood too but failed miserably. He is Sahil Ankola.
Sahil Ankola was a right-arm fast-medium bowler who made his debut for the Indian cricket team against Pakistan in a Test match in 1989. Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis made their debuts in the same test. He went on to play 20 One Day Internationals from 1989 to 1997 and was also part of India's squad in the 1996 Cricket World Cup, hosted by India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
However, he played only one match against Sri Lanka in Delhi but failed to take a single wicket in five overs. After a continuous dismissal performance, he left cricket and decided to try his hand at acting.
Sahil was 28 when he made his acting debut with the show Chahat Aur Nafrat in 1997, he went on to star in multiple TV serials in the early 2000s. Some of his shows Kora Kagaz, Kehta Hai Dil, Vikraal Aur Gabraal, and Rishtey. He made his mark in television and became a star. After this, he moved to Bollywood but all of his movies, including Kurukshetra, Pitaah, Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne, and Riwayat flopped at the box office.
In 2008, he started rejecting film and TV offers after being addicted to alcohol. After he enrolled himself into a rehabilitation centre, Salil made his comeback to television in 2013 with Savitri - EK Prem Kahani. His second innings as an actor got a boost when he played Surya Dev in the show Karmaphal Daata Shani, which ran for two years from 2016 to 2018. He also made a comeback to the cricketing world as a member of the Indian team's senior selection committee.
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