Six years down the line, the actor who played the role of Ali – Digvijay Deshmukh has earned a new identity. The 21-year-old bowler has been picked by the Mumbai Indians for Rs 20 lakh.
“Yes, I am Digvijay and I acted as Ali in that movie Kai Po Che. But I was never an actor and always a cricketer. Now I am slowly realising my dream,” Digvijay said during a chat.
His remarkable figures of 9 wickets from 7 games for Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy cruised him to the MI dressing room. As if to celebrate his maiden IPL call-up, Digvijay has also scalped up six wickets and scored 83 in Maharashtra's second innings on his Ranji Trophy debut against Jammu and Kashmir.
While he recollected his time as a child actor and the instant popularity he got, he admitted that he never liked being branded as an actor.
“I had gone to play a U-14 school tournament in Mumbai and one of the ADs (assistant director) of the film selected me for an audition and then I got the role. Everyone was very nice. I remember playing a lot of cricket with Sushant (Singh Rajput) and Rajkumar Rao. The character was somewhat like me, shy, reticent,” Digvijay said.
“I got an opportunity to do a television commercial (advertisement) but I declined. My parents (father a school teacher and mother a homemaker) also supported me. I didn’t want the focus to waver from the game,” said the Pune based Digvijay.
Ask him about his coaches, he said, “Right now, I am getting a lot of guidance from Surendra Bhave sir, our Ranji team coach. As far as my childhood coaches are concerned, there have been a few people who have helped me. If I name one particular, someone else might get annoyed.”
He believes that his average speed is in the range of 132-134 kmph and he can swing the ball both ways.
“I have no preference. I have just played a Ranji Trophy game and I want to play across all formats for my state team,” he said.