Akshay Kumar hits a six at Indo-Pak match : Bollywood News

Akshay Kumar pulled off a masterstroke in the UK yesterday. His presence (the only one from Bollywood) at Birmingham's Edbgaston Stadium was a raging success. The controversy around his visit to the opening IPL match with Sonakshi Sinha and Imran Khan appears to be a thing of the past, if the response to him at the India-Pakistan match was anything to go by.

The integration with the ICC was dexterously worked out by Balaji, the producers of his forthcoming Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara. Not a single film or star managed an integration with the Champion's Trophy other than OUATIMD.

"As in the film he is playing a cricket fanatic, the producers decided to send him for the historic match. Coincidentally, even in the film his character is seen attending an India-Pakistan match. It's all about visibility and perception these days and what better platform than an India-Pakistan match to garner that," says a source close to the film.

This time around everything was in place, so much so that not just was the entire plan around Akshay sitting in the VIP box at the stadium was publicized much in advance, he was even invited on ground during the innings break to talk about the film with Sanjay Manjrekar.

The source adds, "The actor gladly spoke about OUATIMD, with millions watching him live across the globe. He had cut his holiday in NYC short to fly down just for a day to watch the match and ensure the film getting plugged. Of course, the fact that he is a cricket lover in real life only helped his resolve to come."

Akshay is believed to have been accompanied by a non-industry friend from New York and Balaji Motion Pictures CEO, Tanuj Garg.