Film stars sparkle at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium as Mumbai Heroes beat Kerala Strikers in an edge of the seat thriller in the Celebrity Cricket League opener

By K.R. Nayar 

Sharjah. Film stars usually enthrall people through their movies, but on February 22nd (Friday), they entertained everyone through cricket at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The opening match of the Celebrity Cricket TV League between Mumbai Heroes and Kerala Strikers revealed to these stars as to why this ground has a history of producing edge-of-the-seat thrillers.

 

Salman Khan with Mumbai Heroes captain Riteish Deshmukh and Kerala Strikers skipper Indrajit Sukumaran 

Cheered on by legendary actors like Salman Khan, Bobby Deol, and Suniel Shetty, Mumbai Heroes, led by Riteish Deshmukh, pipped Kerala Strikers, captained by Indrajit Sukumaran, by nine runs.

 

We have always watched in great excitement Salman Khan, Bobby Deol, and Suniel Shetty in movies, especially the sudden twists and turns in the scripts and thrilling finishes. This was a chance to see the three anxiously watching the twists and turns of this match. We have always backed these superstars to emerge victorious, but never seen them rooting for Mumbai Heroes to win. However, the interval, like in the movies, ended differently from the actual, as Kerala took a lead over Mumbai. Unfortunately, Kerala lost the match in the end.

 

Khalaf Bukhatir, CEO and Mazhar Khan, General Manager Sharjah Cricket with Salman Khan 

The format of the CCL is interesting. Both teams play two innings of 10 overs each. Mumbai, after electing to bat first, posted 76 for 7 in 10 overs, with Naveep Tomar, who had acted in action movies like Zanjeer (2013), Tubelight (2017), and Baaghi 2 (2018), top-scoring with 23. He was involved in a 36-run partnership with Sharad Kelkar, who had played the role of a golf coach in the sports drama web series ‘Slum Golf’ and acted in many Hindi and Marathi movies. He also made his debut in the Tamil movie "Ayalaan" this year and hit an unbeaten 18.

 

Sharad Kelkar receives the Man of  the Match award from Suniel Shetty 

For Kerala, Arjun Nandakumar stood out with a fine spell of 3 for 15. Arjun had recently acted as Dr. Aruj Jayadev in the recent box office successful movies like ‘Ozler Abraham’ after starting from his first movie ‘Casinova’. His role as a villain in Mohanlal’s ‘Grandmaster’ won huge appreciation.

 

Navdeep Tomar, receives the Best Batter award 

It was Arjun batting as an opener that helped Kerala take the eight-run lead over Mumbai in the first innings, cracking 32 off 22 balls. Other contributors that helped Kerala gain the lead were Arun Benny (10) and Vivek Gopan (21 n.o). Benny had acted in Priyadarshan’s horror film ‘Geethaanjali’ and ‘Oppam’. He had also bagged a hat-trick against Mumbai Heroes in the 2022 CCL edition. Gopan’s safety awareness series titled ‘Safety Starts with Me’ has won wide acclaim. He had acted in Mammooty’s "One" in the role of a private secretary to CM Mammootty.

 

Arjun Nandakumar receives the best bowler award from Sohail Khan

Mumbai produced a spirited show in the second innings, scoring 100 for 6 in the 10 overs. Once again, the top scorer was Naveep Tomar with an unbeaten 37. Some of the sixers he hit were huge and well-timed. He was well-backed by Sharad Kelkar, who hit 35 runs. Left-handed opening batsman Apoorva Lakhia gave a brilliant start with a knock of 18 runs.

 

Arun Benny 

Kerala’s Benny had put the brakes on Mumbai’s run flow with a fine spell of three wickets for four runs from his two overs. He reduced Mumbai from 78 for 2 to 81 for 6 at one stage before Navdeep hit those towering sixes to help his team reach the 100-run mark.

 

Apoorva Lakhia 

Mumbai opener Lakhia is an outstanding director and was an assistant director to Ashutosh Gowariker’s super hit movie based on cricket – ‘Lagaan’. He made his debut as a director in 2002 through ‘Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost’, ‘Ek Anjabee’, and ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’. The intellectual that he is, he has written the story of ‘Hide & Seek’and even acted in a negative role in ‘Knock Out’. He is a fine, accurate left-arm spinner too.

Saqib Saleem

Kerala’s chase towards the target of 93 to win began on a disastrous note. Saqib Saleem, who is a model and actor, trapped Vivek Gopan leg before with the first ball. One-drop Sanju Sivaraman got run out racing to non-strikers end, without looking at his partner Rajeev Pillai. To make matters worse, Rajeev too fell leg before to Saqib. Incidentally, Saqib made his debut as an actor through ‘Mujhse Fraandship Karoge’, in which he was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.

 

Siddharth Menon 

This setback was followed by a fightback from Siddharth Menon and Arjun Nandakumar. They put on a fighting 54-run partnership in 37 balls before Menon got run out for 32. Menon has acted in films like ‘Love’, ‘Rajawade and Sons’, and ‘Karwaan’. For his acting in ‘June’, released in 2021, he won the National Film award.

 

Arjun took up the challenge and tried to pull Kerala towards the target. Kerala needed 45 runs from the last 18 balls, and Arjun hit Abhilash, who bowled the eighth over, for three consecutive boundaries. The target was reduced to 25 runs from eight balls and 16 off the last over.

 

Shabir Ahluwalia

With the third ball of the last over, when 12 runs were needed off the last three balls, Shabir Ahluwalia clean-bowled Arjun for 34 to end his 19-ball breezy knock. Shabir has played the lead role in the popular Hindi TV serial "Kumkum Bhagya" and has repeatedly won the Indian Telly awards for the best actor.

 

Riteish Deshmukh 

Ultimately, Kerala lost by nine runs. Riteish Deshmukh, skipper of the Mumbai Heroes, is the son of renowned politician Vilasrao Deshmukh, and had won acclaim for his role as a serial killer in "Ek Villain".

 

Indrajith Sukumaran 

Indrajith, who captained Kerala, is the son of actors Sukumaran and Mallika, and brother of the well-known actor Prithviraj Sukumaran. Kerala’s Saiju Kurup displayed his skill as an accurate bowler in this match. He is a rising star and has acted well in movies like 'Malikappuram' and the recent ‘A Ranjith Cinema’.

 

Saiju Kurup 

Siju Wilson produced the best catch of the match - a one-handed running catch, stretching his right hand at widish mid-off, to dismiss Mumbai’s Apoorva. Wilson is the winner of the 2020 Kerala State Film award for best film for his debut production ‘Vasanthi’. 

 

Siju Wilson 

For the large number of spectators who have seen all these actors only on the screen in films and television, being able to witness their cricketing skills at the Sharjah stadium, which has hosted the world record maximum number of One-dayers, was indeed a thrilling experience.