Jatin Sarna on cricketer Yashpal Sharma’s death: I wanted to sit with him and watch our film 83, and cheer

Actor Jatin Sarna was looking forward to meeting late cricketer Yashpal Sharma one more time, after their earlier meetings during the making of the film ‘83. But the cricketer’s death today has left Sarna shocked. The two were connected through the film, based on the 1983 World Cup win by the Indian cricket team, and the actor has stepped into the cricketer’s shoes for the big screen. Sharma was a part of the World Cup squad as a batsman.

“I met Yashpal ji three times, and wanted to meet him again to know more about him. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that time. The most important time was when I met him at the training camp in Dharamsala for seven days. Our whole team of actors was practising there,” tells us the 36-year-old.

The actor further says that Sharma was very curious to know which actor was going to play him on screen.

“I was very curious too, and Yashpal sir was more curious to know who is playing his part. Yashpal ji used to ask Balwinder Singh Sadhu, who was one of the members of the World Cup team, about who is playing him in the film. Sandhu ji would say, ‘Chinta mat kar, naya actor hai, he will do justice’. It became my responsibility as an actor to play the role of the living legend perfectly,” says the Sacred Games actor.

One day, the late cricketer came up to Sarna and offered to teach him his shots.

“I used to watch him closely, how he walks, talks, his expressions, behaviour. I looked deeply into that. One day, he came early in the morning and told me ‘chal tujhe shots dikhata hoon’, and started teaching me. I wanted to sit and watch the film with him when it would release, and cheer. This news is so unfortunate,” Sarna ends.