Kapil’s Natraj shot came very naturally to Ranveer: Balwinder Singh Sandhu

The Bollywood film ’83’ based on India’s World Cup-winning triumph in 1983 has been doing wonders on the big screen. This was the first time when the Indian team lifted the World Cup under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. Kapil’s role has been played by actor Ranveer Singh who has been making the headlines for the same. 

Balwinder Singh Sandhu who was a part of the side is also the film’s associate director and has played an important role in the making. “Kapdo me kitna mitti hona chahiye, yeh bhi maine decide kiya tha. Mujhe bohot creative satisfaction mila,” (“The extent of mud stains on the clothing was also decided by me. It gave me a lot of creative satisfaction,”) he said according to Sportskeeda. 

Kapil’s 175* against Zimbabwe remains one of the most important knocks in the Indian cricket history but unfortunately that wasn’t televised as according to reports the BBC which was the host broadcaster for the 1983 World Cup was on strike. 

It is also said that the BCC had a crunch as far as the crew is concerned as there were four matches going on at the time and the broadcaster were covering England vs Pakistan and West Indies vs Australia.

Coming back to that match and the film, Sandhu rated the former India captain’s knock as the greatest in World Cup history and also revealed that Kapil’s “Natraj shot” came very naturally to Ranveer. 

“To judge the greatness of that innings, you have to understand the context. We went into the reverse fixture against Zimbabwe having lost the previous two matches very badly. So, it was a do-or-die match for us,” he said. 

“Kapil’s 175* was the tournament-defining innings. It’s undoubtedly the greatest innings in World Cup history,” he added. 

“In the movie, we tried to recreate the shots. Ranveer [Singh] has done a great job. He worked very hard, but never looked tired. At the same time, he was a good listener. He grasped whatever instructions I gave him and was highly motivated to emulate all the shots correctly. In fact, Kapil’s Natraj shot came very naturally to Ranveer! I told him to stick to his natural ability because Kapil’s pull shot came naturally to him,” Sandhu further said.