When a star cricketer played in Indian team on recommendation of a Bollywood superstar!

Cricket and Bollywood always share a special bond. Some cricketers have married popular Bollywood actresses and many Bollywood stars entertain fans in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL).

Though fans are well aware about the love relationship between Bollywood and cricket, they will be astonished to know that a star cricketer has played in the Indian team on the recommendation of a Bollywood superstar.

Well, one of the heroes of the Indian team in the 1983 World Cup victory- Yashpal Sharma was able to make debut in the Indian cricket team on the recommendation of super-star Dilip Kumar.

Yashpal himself has made the claim. According to Yashpal, Dilip Kumar has made his career better and this is the reason why he prefers to call him Yusuf Sahab instead of Dilip Kumar.

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“I used to play Ranji cricket in the early days of my cricket career. At that time, a knockout match was going on on the ground of a company, of which Dilip Kumar was the chairman. I had scored a century in the first innings. In the second innings, I was playing at a score of 80. Meanwhile, some vehicles came in the field (outside the boundary line). I thought that some local leader must have come. He must have asked something, which I came to know later. I scored a century and he clapped,” said Yashpal in Kapil Sharma’s show.

“Then I thought that he had left. But when the match was over, the stadium officials told me to come, someone wants to meet you. When I went to the stadium office, I saw that Yusuf Bhai was standing there. He shook hands with me. Then he said that I think your game is strong and he will talk to someone for me. After this, Dilip Kumar met the then BCCI President Raj Singh Dungarpur. Dungarpur talked to BCCI officials about me and that is how my entry into the Indian team was possible,” he added.