Mumbai: India’s leg-break googly bowler Yuzvendra Chahal and his parents were pleasantly surprised to see Amitabh Bachhan’s popular TV reality show Kaun Banega Crorerpati (Who wants to be a millionaire?) touch on his sporting exploits on Tuesday night.
“Which of the following cricketers is a former chess player who represented India at Junior levels,” was the question asked of the contestant, who rightly chose Chahal over the other three options [Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Jaspreet Bumrah].
“We have been regularly watching the KBC on TV and were indeed surprised to find a question on my son”, Yuzvendra’s father, K.K. Chahal, a lawyer, speaking exclusively over telephone.
“Yuz’s mother [Sunita] was also equally surprised as it was out of question to have expected...”
“Yuzvendra is not at home but at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) at Bengaluru. He had kept his TV volume on and was inside the washroom when he had heard the question about him. Even his friends also told him about the question and I am sure he would catch up with the programme on YouTube,” the player’s father added.
“We all are his [Amitabh Bachchan’s] fans. The Big B not only acknowledged the right answer but also praised Yuzvendra’s bowling, saying, he is a very good young bowler,” he said.
“Yuz had interest in chess and cricket and, in chess, he represented India at the junior level. He is the only player from India having played chess and cricket at the competitive level,” the father signed off.
The KBC has, quite often, popped up cricket questions in the past. Another question on cricket — which of the following is the name of a bird and also a cricket ball manufacturer — was rightly answered by one of the contestants as Kookaburra.
