Sports and Culture
India U19 cricketer who played with Pujara, Dhawan, Raina, Ishant to make his acting debut in '83'
Hardavinder Sandhu played for India U19 and Punjab. He will soon be seen back on the cricket pitch as Madan Lal in the upcoming film, '83'.
Hardavinder Sandhu played for India U-19 and Punjab (left); he will be making his acting debut as Madan Lal in '83' (Mediareferee)
There will be a lot of things to watch out for when '83' released in theatres later this month, one of the things being the acting debut of a former U19 cricketer who played for India alongside the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik before an injury ended his cricket career.
Hardavinder Sandhu, as his Cricinfo profile states but who is known to his fans as Harrdy Sandhu, made his Youth Test debut alongside Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa in 2004. He was also a part of the Indian Squad in 2004 Under 19 World Cup squad alongside Dhawan, Raina, Karthik and Ambati Rayudu.
He also played at the senior-level for Punjab, picking 12 wickets at an impressive bowling average of 26 in three First Class matches for Punjab. Later, he moved to Australia and worked as a taxi driver before he found fame as a singer.
"I could've played in IPL," Sandhu told TOI in a 2018 interview.
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"I have played for the U-19 cricket team with Shikhar Dhawan. He was my roommate, and I have also played with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma. But in 2006, I had an elbow injury. I was a fast bowler and the injury was on my right arm... The IPL started soon and some people who were my juniors got picked, it felt bad then," he related.
Sandhu's cricket career may not have been lived up to the early promise it had showed, but on screen, he will soon be immortalized as the bowler who gets Vivian Richards out in the 1983 World Cup final.
