From Kai Po Che To IPL: Digvijay Deshmukh Makes it Big In Cricket
Dreams do come true and Digvijay Deshmukh will surely agree to it. The young cricketer is yet to make it big in the game but is already a famous face in the country because of his reel life. Digvijay Deshmukh was the shy little boy Ali, who used to love playing marbles and hit sixes for fun in the blockbuster film ‘Kai Po Che’.
It was reel life where Ali’s character finally realises his coach Govind’s dream in the backdrop of 2002 Gujarat riots and plays for India at the end of the film. The hit movie was loosely adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s novel ‘Three Mistakes of My Life’. Fast forward to 2019 and the child star is now all set to get the platform to realise his dream of making it big in cricket. The 21-year old has been roped in at the IPL auction by Mumbai Indians for Rs 20 lakh.
“Yes, I am Digvijay and I acted as Ali in that movie Kai Po Che. But I was never an actor and always a cricketer. Now I am slowly realising my dream,” Digvijay Deshmukh told PTI.
Digvijay Deshmukh earned his maiden IPL contract after impressing for Maharashtra in this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He made his debut this year only and picked up nine wickets in seven T20 games with his medium pace. Earlier this month, he also made his first-class debut when he played against Jammu and Kashmir in the Ranji Trophy. On his debut, he picked up six wickets and scored 83 in second innings.
‘Did not like to be branded as an actor’:
While Digvijay Deshmukh became a household name after playing the role of Ali in Kai Po Che, he did not really like to be branded as an actor. The 21-year old was clear right from the start that he wanted to make it big in cricket.
“I had gone to play an U-14 school tournament in Mumbai and one of the ADs (assistant director) of the film selected me for the audition and then I got the role. Everyone was very nice. I remember playing a lot of cricket with Sushant (Singh Rajput) and Rajkumar Rao. The character was somewhat like me, shy, reticent,” Digvijay Deshmukh said.
“People would refer to me as an actor and I would be very angry. Mujhe gussa aata thaa. I did Kai Po Che because a lot of scenes were just about playing cricket. But staying outdoor for four months hampered my cricket and I didn’t want that to happen ever again,” Digvijay recollected.
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Indian Premier League (IPL) IPL 2020 Mumbai Indians (MI)
