mohar basu mohar. basu@ mid- day. com Amo ng countrymen who live and breathe the sport of cricket, Pankaj Tripathi is a bit of an oddball. And even though he may never have found in himself any love for the sport, he still managed to bag a spot on Kabir Khanu2019s squad in the cinematic retelling of Indiau2019s first World Cup victory.

As PR Man Singh, considered the backbone of the Indian cricket team, Tripathi practically faked it till he made it, as he kept enacting the part of a man who was obsessed with the sport, studying its every technique. Eventually, the actor too developed a softspot for the game. u201c I wasnu2019t drawn to the game when I started shooting for this film. But, every day, I would see the boys [ cast members] Ranveer Singh, Saqib Saleem, Tahir Raj Bhasin, and others, work hard. They were being trained by the legends.