When Mithun Chakraborty Played For 'India' Along With Sunil Gavaskar

While there are several acting achievements that Mithun Chakraborty can boast of, not many from his industry can say that they have played for 'India' along with Sunil Gavaskar.

Mithun Chakraborty is all set to be bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The recognition happens to be one of the highest honours of Indian cinema and social media has been flooded with reactions as soon as Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and IT, confirmed the news through an official post on X. In his post, the politician said Chakraborty is being recognised for his "oustanding contribution to Indian cinemea throughout his career."

Despite being known for his acting talent, it is his acting skills that actually helped him play cricket for 'India'. It so happened that his acting talent helped him get an opportunity to play cricket for 'India' under Sunil Gavaskar. Mithun Chakraborty was not alone from the Indian film fraternity to be part of that side as his co-star Tom Alter was also part of this team, the now deceased star's son Jamie recalled as quoted in a 2017 PTI report.

READ HERE | Mithun Chakraborty To Receive The Prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award For His Contributions To Indian Cinema

Mithun Chakraborty, Tom Alter Represent India World XI In A Team That Had Sunil Gavaskar

Jamie revealed that Tom Alter and Mithun Chakraborthy actually represented India World XI in a team that had the likes of Sunil Gavaskar.

"There was a match in New Jersey between India World XI and West Indies World XI. The same team that went to lift the 1983 World Cup, except the winning captain Kapil Dev and one more player," Jamie's statement in the aforementioned report read.

"It so happened that my father was shooting for a film with Mithun Chakraborty in New York's Long Island, which is a two-hour ride away from where the match was to be played. He read about it in the papers and wanted to see the match," Tom Alter's son added before revealing that the director and the producer of the movie also gave him permission to go and watch the match.

However, since the Indian team was short of two players, legendary India star Gavaskar ended up inviting the duo to join them in playing the match.

"My father was thrilled. When they reached the venue they met Sunil Gavaskar, who ended up inviting the duo to join the team as the Indian side was short of two players. Father said, 'I think I have died and gone to heaven!' "He wrote in the article, 'To be told by your childhood hero, what field do you want as a bowler?' That's probably the one time Tom Alter the actor met Tom Alter the sportsman. Probably, it was the best day of his life," Jamie said as per this report.

Alter died in September 2017.