In a bizarre series of events, stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui managed to take legendary Indian cricket Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL). Tendulkar tried to play across the line when Faruqui bowled a delivery outside off stump. He could not hit it towards the leg side and the catch was taken by Naman Ojha.
As Tendulkar departed after scoring 30 runs from 17 balls, the crowd at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium in Thane went silent.
Tendulkar is also an investor and Core Committee Member of the ISPL 2024. He opened the innings with Jammu & Kashmir para cricket team captain Amir Hussain Lone.
Apart from Tendulkar, Yusuf Pathan scored 21 runs before losing his wicket to Bollywood actor Prateik Babbar in the seventh over. The Master's 11 managed to put 95 runs on the board for the loss of seven wickets.
Tendulkar dances to ‘Naatu Naatu’
The 50-year-old was also seen shaking a leg with Akshay Kumar, Ram Charan and Suriya on the Oscar-winning song ‘Naatu Naatu’.
Six teams are contesting in the T10 cricket tournament. These teams are owned by actors. A total of 18 matches will be played from March 6 to 15 at the same venue. The teams will face each other in a round-robin format. The top four will progress to the semifinal stage.
Tendulkar backs BCCI prioritising domestic cricket
Earlier, Tendulkar on his X account shared the importance of playing domestic cricket and backed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) prioritising it.
“Throughout my career, I remained passionate about playing for Mumbai whenever I had the opportunity. Growing up, we had almost 7-8 India players in our dressing room, and it was fun to play alongside them,” the Master Blaster wrote.
“When India players turn up for their domestic teams, it raises the quality of play for youngsters and sometimes new talent is identified. It also gives the national players a chance to sometimes rediscover the basics.
“With top notch players participating in domestic tournaments, over a period of time, fans will also start following and supporting their domestic teams much more. Wonderful to see @BCCI give equal priority to domestic cricket.”
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