Suniel Followed Rohit from 16

Actor Suniel Shetty opened up about his deep love for cricket and his long-standing admiration for Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma.

During his appearance on ‘Family Full House with Rohit Sharma,' the ‘Hera Pheri’ actor recalled his passion for the sport and said he has been an avid cricket fan for years and would even go out of his way to watch footage of pace bowlers at a time when cricket matches were not easily available on television. Talking about his love for cricket, Suniel Shetty said, “Main kitna bada cricket buff hoon woh duniya jaanti hai. Shayad jitna inhone cricket nahi khela hoga, utna maine khayalon mein khela hai. Pehle zamaane mein television pe aate nahi the, toh pace bowlers ko dekhne Indo-American Society jaata tha, aur unke rushes dekhne ke liye, unki clippings dekhne ke liye.” (“I am known to be a huge cricket buff. Perhaps I have played more cricket in my imagination than they have actually played. In those days, cricket matches were not shown much on television, so I would go to the Indo-American Society to watch pace bowlers and see their footage and clippings.”)

The ‘Dhadkan’ actor also recalled how Sir Viv Richards has always been his favourite cricketer and how he started following Rohit when rohit was just 16. He shared, “Mere hamesha favourite cricketer rahe the aur aaj bhi mere favourite hi hain Sir Viv Richards. Aur main Rohit ko shayad jab se woh 16–17 saal ka tha, tab se follow karta aa raha hoon. Dr. PV Shetty Rohit ke baare mein hamesha baat karte the. Main hamesha dekhne jaata tha, baat karta tha. Chhota sa Rohit, but same hi game, same amount of time.” (“My favourite cricketer has always been Sir Viv Richards, and he remains my favourite even today. I have been following Rohit since he was around 16 or 17 years old. Dr. PV Shetty would often talk about Rohit, and I would always go to watch him and speak to him. He was a young Rohit back then, but the game was the same, and he spent the same amount of time playing.”)

For Suniel, the resemblance went beyond Rohit’s cricket. Drawing a comparison between the two, He added, “Toh main uss waqt bhi bolta tha ki agar Sir Viv Richards ki koi mujhe yaad dilata hai, it’s Rohit Sharma. Same swag, woh Caribbean swag, yeh Desi swag.”( “Even then, I used to say that if anyone reminded me of Sir Viv Richards, it was Rohit Sharma. The same swag — that Caribbean swag in him, and this desi swag in Rohit.”)

Furthermore, Rohit recalled his first memorable meeting with Suniel when he was around 16 and playing for Indian Oil. “Mujhe abhi bhi yaad hai jo Suniel sir ne bataya ki main 16 saal ka tha aur main apni company ke liye khel raha tha, Indian Oil ke liye. Yeh match Bandra Kurla Complex main ground mein ho raha tha, aur main bas pad up karke baitha tha, batting ke liye jaane ke liye. Tabhi mujhe pata chala ki sir wahan par aane wale hain. Toh maine bola, yeh kaunsa match hai? Yahan pe kyun aayenge? But yeh hai inka, jo abhi inhone bataya ki inhone mere se zyada apne khayalon mein khela hai. But inka jo pyaar hai cricket ke liye, hum sab jaante hain.” (“I still remember what Suniel sir mentioned. I was 16 and playing for my company, Indian Oil. The match was taking place at a ground in Bandra Kurla Complex, and I was just padded up, waiting to go in to bat. That’s when I found out that sir was going to be there. I thought, ‘What kind of match is this? Why would he come here?’ But that’s him. As he just mentioned, he has probably played more cricket in his imagination than I have. But we all know how much he loves cricket.”)

Rohit also remembers Suniel meeting his mentor PV Shetty during a match and being completely engrossed in the game. He shared, “Aur tab mujhe realise hua ki inhone abhi bataya ki itna cricket dekha hai inhone, aur khelte bhi the. Under-19 khela hai inhone. Jab main baitha tha aur Suniel sir aake baithe PV Shetty ke saath, jo mere mentor the. Unhone mujhe kaafi help ki mere younger days mein. Unhone mujhe bola ki, ‘Aapko inse milna chahiye, yeh bahut cricket pasand karte hain.’ Main bola, of course kaun nahi milna chahta. Lekin main dekh raha tha inko side se hi ki kar kya rahe hain yeh. Par inka dhyaan poora cricket pe tha ki yeh kitna accha shot khel raha hai.” (“And that’s when I realized that, as he just mentioned, he has watched a lot of cricket and has also played the game. He played Under-19 cricket. I was sitting there when Suniel sir came and sat with PV Shetty, who was my mentor and helped me a lot during my younger days. He told me, ‘You should meet him, he really loves cricket.’ I thought, of course, who wouldn’t want to meet him? But I was watching him from the side to see what he was doing. His entire attention, however, was on the cricket and on how well someone was playing a shot.”)