Real to reel – Five Indian cricketers who deserve a biopic

A biopic is a great way to pay tribute and highlight the life of legends. Over the years, biographical films such as the ones on MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, and Mohammad Azharuddin have gained immense success and all of these players certainly deserved one. However, India has produced many legendary cricketers and many such players who deserve their story to be told in the form of a biographical film. Here are 5 such ones-

5. Kapil Dev

The dark horse of Indian cricket, Haryana-born Kapil Dev’s life is simply encouraging. Before him, India had to face a lot of fast bowlers but did not have one to intimidate the opposition with. He led India to their first-ever World Cup triumph in 1983 defying all odds and defeating invincible teams on the way to victory. Hailing from a humble background, Kapil went onto make his name at the global pedestal as one of the finest all-rounders and he was named the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002 by Wisden.

4. Gautam Gambhir

Another one of India’s highly underrated players, Gautam Gambhir’s life has been an epitome of determination, will, and perseverance. Belonging to Delhi, Gambhir earned his spot in the team after rising the ranks in domestic level cricket. Alongside Virender Sehwag, he went onto make his name as one of the most reliable openers India ever produced. The biggest cricketing high came for him on 2nd April 2011 during the iconic World Cup final where his 97-run knock brought a misplaced Indian team to the track of victory. It is MSD’s knock and winning six that we all remember and Gambhir’s life has always been like that.

3. Rahul Dravid

“The Wall” is undeniably one of the greatest cricketers to have played for any country, let alone India. One of the quietest, most hard-working, and most honest men, Dravid’s contribution to cricket is matched by few. An extremely underrated player, Dravid does not get the recognition and credit he deserves. Correctly regarded as “The Wall”, Dravid has played innumerable match-saving innings and is one of the few cricketers who have more than 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs. After retirement, he has selflessly taken the responsibility of coaching the Under-19 team and has taken them heights by his efforts and guidance.

2. Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj’s story is one of courage, determination, and inspiration. He played a pivotal role in the two most important and dear achievements of Indian cricket in the new millennium: T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC World Cup 2011, being even the man of the tournament in the latter. Yuvi’s life took a horrible turn after a fairytale World Cup as he got diagnosed with the deadly disease of cancer. However, being the fighter that he is, he kept his spirit high and not just defeated cancer but also made a comeback in the international team. His journey teaches us a lot.

1. Sourav Ganguly

Ganguly’s life story has itself been like a plot full of twists and turns. He made his way into a budding team in 1996 and overtook captaincy at the time when the Indian cricket had lost all its credibility due to the infamous match-fixing scandal. The “Bengal Prince” did immense hard-work to not just establish himself as one of the greats of the game, but build a team, restore the faith of people, and take India to heights. A controversial spat with a former coach, Greg Chappell, led to many unfortunate events, and Ganguly was removed as skipper and dropped. But Dada was not the one to accept defeats and he made a brilliant comeback and retired on a high. He has held many important posts thereafter such as the presidency of CAB and BCCI.