XtraTime Web Desk: One of the most versatile contemporary actors, Irrfan Khan breathed his last at the age of 53 in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital on Wednesday. He was being treated for a colon infection. The sudden loss of Irrfan leaves a huge void in the world of cinema as he was regarded as one of the finest gems not only in India but around the world.
While many are aware of Irrfan Khan’s splendid work in silver screen, not many know that he wanted to become a professional cricketer and it was due to lack of just Rs 600 that he failed to pursue a career out of it. . Irrfan was selected for CK Nayudu Trophy but did not have the money to pursue his dream as a cricketer. Instead he got admitted in National School of Drama for Rs 300.
“I played cricket. I wanted to become a cricketer. I was an all-rounder and the youngest one in my team in Jaipur. I wanted to make a career out of it. I was selected for the CK Nayudu tournament I think and then I needed money and didn’t know who to ask. That day I decided I cannot pursue it. I couldn’t have asked for Rs 600 at that time,” Irrfan had said in an interview to a leading daily in 2014.
The dynamic actor always was a big supporter of test cricket as he believed it was the purest form of the game compared to T20 cricket.
“Cricket ka down hona bhi chahiye! It is a waste of time. Compared to the charm and the drama of a Test match…this T20… it is raping the game. All kinds of goof-ups are happening,” he had said back in 2014.
In one of his last letters written in 2018, Irrfan did mention his admiration for the Lords cricket ground. While he was in London for treatment, his hospital was just opposite to the Lords cricket ground. He was admitted in Willingdon hospital which was opposite the North Gate of Lords. Irrfan went at the Lords to watch a test match between Pakistan and England in 2018 as well.
Irrfan wrote, “As I was entering the hospital, drained, exhausted, listless, I hardly realised my hospital was on the opposite side of Lord’s, the stadium. The Mecca of my childhood dream. Amidst the pain, I saw a poster of a smiling Vivian Richards. Nothing happened, as if that world didn’t ever belong to me.”
He also wrote, This hospital also had a coma ward right above me. Once, while standing on the balcony of my hospital room, the peculiarity jolted me. Between the game of life and the game of death, there is just a road. On one side, a hospital, on the other, a stadium. As if one isn’t part of anything which might claim certainty – neither the hospital, nor the stadium. That hit me hard.”
Irrfan Khan has truly played the game like a Lord.