When Sachin Tendulkar was bowled over by Sushant Singh Rajput's batting skills

Much before the shooting of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story had begun, actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who tragically committed suicide on Sunday, had undergone eight to nine months of rigorous training. He had even surprised Mumbai maestro Sachin Tendulkar with his batting skills in the nets.

According to former stumper Kiran More, who took it upon himself to train Sushant for Dhoni’s role, told Tendulkar “he is our actor Sushant Singh Rajput”, to which Tendulkar replied: “Pura jabardast hai, he doesn’t look like an actor playing in the nets.”

The venue was the Bandra Kurla Complex ground, and Sachin Tendulkar had gone with son Arjun for a nets session. The father-son duo was apparently in the next net.

During the break, More had decided to catch up with the legend. The former Indian wicket-keeper said:

“Sachin said who is this guy and I like his batting. When I told him that he is our Bollywood actor training for the MS Dhoni movie, he said ‘kya baat karta hai’ (what are you saying) and praised Sushant’s batting skills. Sachin then said that he doesn’t look like the actor as he is playing like a proper batsman,” said More.

More, who remembers Sushant as a person who was always brimming with enthusiasm, narrated this incident hours after the actor’s sad demise.

More continued -

"Later, Arjun started bowling to Sushant and asked me if he could bowl a bouncer. I told him to go ahead and then Sushant played a lovely shot to it. Everyone was shocked with his batting display,” More remembered.

"Of course, wicket-keeping doesn’t come naturally to everyone but Sushant was so hard-working and sincere that he eventually became quite good at it. That is because he loved his role too. While batting too, Sushant faced Ranji Trophy level bowlers with aplomb.

“Show me how many can do wicket-keeping that naturally. But Sushant loved his role so much that he took it as a challenge and became so good that he could have played as a wicket-keeper in a club team,” More said.

These words of appreciation coming from a former stumper mean a lot.

“Sushant’s fitness was outstanding. We discussed how to go about it while training in Mumbai. He was required to train for eight to nine months and every drill was attended by him like a proper cricketer. He came across as someone who was also mentally strong."

More even stated that Sushant picked up the helicopter shot very quickly, and that he worked very hard to look just like MS Dhoni.

"The way he picked up the helicopter shot was amazing. He was punctual for the nets and there was no compromise on his hard work to look like Dhoni. He got hit on his body but he didn’t back down. He was always ready to take the challenge. I can’t still believe what has happened to him today,” More added.