Salil Ankola and Sachin Tendulkar made their debut for Indian cricket team in the same year. Salil retired from cricket in 1997 to pursue acting. His TV shows became successful, but his films have been major flops.
From Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh, several cricketers have made appearances in Hindi films. But, there has been one former cricketer, who quit the sport and took up acting professionally. He became a TV star, but his Bollywood career never took off. We are talking about Salil Ankola.
A right-arm fast-medium bowler, Salil Ankola made his debut for Indian cricket team against Pakistan in a Test match in 1989. The other two cricketers, who also made their debut in the same Test and went on to become legandary players, were Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis. However, it turned out to be the only Test that Ankola played for India.
He went on to play 20 One Day Internationals from 1989 to 1997, and was also part of India's squad in the 1996 Cricket World Cup, hosted by India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. He only played one match against Sri Lanka in Delhi, in which he didn't take any wicket in his five overs and did not get a chance to bat. After continuous dismal performances, Salil Ankola retired from cricket at the age of 28 to pursue acting.
After making his acting debut in the TV series Chahat Aur Nafrat in 1997, he went on to star in multiple TV serials in the early 2000s. Some of his shows Kora Kagaz, Kehta Hai Dil, Vikraal Aur Gabraal, and Rishtey garnered successful ratings and made him a star on the small screen. Salil was even seen in the first season of Bigg Boss, but was evicted within the first week.
Salil had even tried his luck in Bollywood films but all of his movies, such as Kurukshetra, Pitaah, Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne, and Riwayat among others have been flops. During 2008, the cricketer-turned-actor wasn't receiving any offers from either television or films and he turned to alcohol. This not only impacted his professional career, but also saw his 19-year-long marriage ending in divorce in 2011.
After he enrolled himself into a rehabilitation centre, Salil made his comeback to television in 2013 with Savitri - EK Prem Kahani. His second innings as an actor got a boost when he played Surya Dev in the show Karmaphal Daata Shani, which ran for two years from 2016 to 2018. The former cricketer is back in the cricketing world as he works behind the scenes now. From 2020 to 2021, Salil Ankola was the chief selector of the Mumbai Cricket Association, and from January 2023 to as recently as January 2024, he was the selector of the Indian national men's cricket team. His Instagram bio reads as, "member of Indian team senior selection committee."
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