Former India wicketkeeper Kiran More reveals late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput-s behind-the-scenes sweat and toil as he coached him for 2016 film MS Dhoni: The Untold Story
Sushant Singh Rajput at an event in the city in 2016. Pic/Satej Shinde
Former India wicketkeeper-batsman and ex-national chief selector Kiran More was nothing short of gutted on learning about the suicide of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, 34. More had coached Rajput to play the lead role in the biopic, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story.
"It-s a big loss to me personally. I became his good friend while working on his cricket for nine months in 2016. Back then, he shared with me details of how he came to Mumbai [from Patna] and what it took to become a star in Mumbai—a talented and learned boy," More told mid-day from Baroda on Sunday. Rajput committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Bandra on Sunday morning.
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Helicopter high
More and Rajput became a regular feature at former India wicketkeeper-batsman Chandrakant Pandit-s Academy in Andheri, where Rajput finally learnt how to play Dhoni-s famous helicopter shot after two and a half months of work. "He used to bat a lot during our practice sessions and enjoyed it immensely. He was determined to execute the helicopter shot perfectly. He was so delighted when he was able to do that effortlessly that he celebrated his success. I remember Sushant-s words at the time: -Dhai mahinay lage mujhe ye helicopter shot khelne ko. Sirf mujhe maalum hai maine ye time kaisa nikala [It took me two and half months to learn this helicopter shot. Only I know how I spent this time]-," recalled More, 57, who claimed 130 victims behind the stumps in 49 Tests and had 90 dismissals in 94 ODIs. More felt Rajput, who hardly played tennis-ball cricket in his childhood, had the most difficult job of duplicating Dhoni-s style of wicketkeeping.
Kiran More
Unconventional -keeping
"He knew it would be tough to play the role of a personality like Dhoni and was keen to do it without hurting the sentiments of Dhoni-s fans. The movie was a super hit and credit goes to Sushant-s hard work. He learnt Dhoni-s batting stance, grip, style of playing shots, running between wickets and most importantly, his style of wicketkeeping, which according to me, is a difficult task even for cricketers, forget actors. "Even if we ask Anil Kumble or Sachin Tendulkar to -keep, they won-t be able to, so for Sushant, an actor, it was a big challenge. But he did it despite getting hurt by balls on his hands, shoulder, chest and face almost daily," said More.
More-s last meeting with Rajput was last year in Chennai, where Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings by 46 runs in an IPL game April 26. "We practiced rigorously for four hours a day without any compromise—just like Ranji Trophy teams train. He used to hit around 300 balls daily. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and was ready to work hard to achieve it. It-s all over, now. We-ll miss him a lot."
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