Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 18, 2019)

Saqib Saleem and singer Harrdy Sandhu have been finalised as part of Ranveer Singh’s squad for Kabir Khan’s next, ’83, which recreates Team India’s World Cup win. A source close to the development reveals that Saqib will be playing all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath, the man of the match in the semi-finals and the finals who contributed significantly to India’s milestone victory against favourites West Indies. Harrdy plays another all-rounder, Madan Lal, who took the all-important wicket of Windies captain Vivian Richards in the final. Madan Lal and Mohinder were the highest wicket-takers of the World Cup final with three wickets each, with the latter taking the last wicket, bowling out Michael Holding at six runs. As the team’s vice-captain, Amarnath held up the Cup with captain Kapil Dev in the famous image (above).

Saqib was a state level-cricketer from Delhi during his younger days while Harrdy played in the Under-19 team for Punjab as a fast bowler with Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. An elbow injury led to him switching gears to singing. While this will be his Bollywood debut, he has acted in two Punjabi films, Yaaran Da Katchup and Mera Mahi NRI.

As Mirror had earlier reported (February 15), the team begins shooting from May in London and Scotland. It’s a 100-day schedule, and towards March-end they will have a 10-day bonding and training session in Dharamshala. They will also train in Mumbai for a week.