Salil Ankola benefit match, Tendulkar XI vs Ganguly XI

Today in Mumbai there was a cricket match between the Sachin 11 Cricket Team and Saurav Ganguly 11 cricket team. The match was a benefit cricket match for Salil Ankola.

The Andheri Sports Complex located here is not a venue famous for hosting cricket matches. It’s in fact where movie and ad-film makers come to shoot their larger-than-life sequences. But come Saturday and stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will turn up at this modest ground to play a benefit game for their old team mate, who drifted from the cricket field to face the camera only to come face-to-face with the ups and downs of the glamour industry.

Salil Ankola is a former Indian cricketer. He has played few test and one day international cricket matches. Salil Ankola could not perform very good in the international cricket and then due to good looking face he turned into the Indian cinema and Television world. He has worked in few serials and movies. Recently Salil Ankola moved into a rehabilitation centre to give up his drinking habit.

Ankola, a tall, good-looking and athletic fast bowler, made a dramatic debut for Bombay in 1988-89, grabbing a hat-trick and scoring 43 against Gujarat, and following up with a six-wicket haul against Baroda. He was almost immediately drafted into the Indian side, taking 6 for 77 in the tour-opener in Pakistan in 1989-90 and making his Test debut - against Pakistan at Karachi- where he took 2 for 128. But injuries - not helped by an extremely long run-up - took their toll and he didn't appear again in that series - in fact, the Karachi game was to be his only Test appearance. In 1990 he worked with Frank Tyson on remodelling his approach to the wicket, and returned with a shorter run, less pace but much-improved control. He returned to the Indian one-day side in 1993 but was again cast aside the following year, his place not helped by his reputation as a poor fielder. He was recalled to the side for the 1996 World Cup, and played in one subsequent series before again being dropped. Within a year, aged only 28, he had retired to pursue a career as an actor. He appeared in a TV serial - Sshh... Koi Hai as well as several film rolls. He subsequently turned his attention to film production.