EXCLUSIVE: Sohail Khan confirms that Salman Khan will grace Celebrity Cricket League’s opening match in Sharjah; reveals why the superstar won’t play: “We don’t want him to get hurt and his shooting to get cancelled”

By Fenil Seta -

February 20, 2024 - 2:30 PM IST

Sohail Khan was all smiles as he exclusively spoke to Bollywood Hungama after the press conference of Mumbai Heroes about the upcoming edition of Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) and a lot more.

EXCLUSIVE: Sohail Khan confirms that Salman Khan will grace Celebrity Cricket League’s opening match in Sharjah; reveals why the superstar won’t play: “We don’t want him to get hurt and his shooting to get cancelled”

CCL is all set to begin in four days. How do you feel?
I am excited. You get to meet your friends again. I made new friends, thanks to CCL. We knew everybody from the Hindi film industry, especially the ones born and brought up in film families. But when we played the first edition of the CCL, we realized that we were like frogs in a well! We had never seen the huge Indian industry outside of Bollywood. There’s so much talent out there and CCL brought all of us together. During the first season, it was so nice to introduce ourselves and get to know each other. We just spoke different languages and CCL broke that barrier of languages and made us all come together. Today, some of my dearest friends are Kiccha Sudeepa, Manoj Tiwari and Hans Raj Hans. This was possible, thanks to the league.

Which is that one team that you feel can give Mumbai Heroes a tough time?
One well-trained team is Karnataka Bulldozers, captained by Kiccha Sudeepa. They are extremely professional and focused. And two other teams that are quite hungry for victory are Punjab De Sher and Bhojpuri Dabanggs. They have been constantly practicing. And every team wants to beat Mumbai Heroes. Cup jeete na jeete, unko bas Mumbai ki team ko harana hai (laughs)! I guess that’s because Bollywood is the biggest film industry.

What are the practice sessions of Mumbai Heroes like?
We practice at Juhu Gymkhana, and we began it in mid-December. A lot of actors don’t have time. We have nets from Tuesday to Friday early mornings from 7:00 am to 11:00 am. Jiske paas time hai, woh aa ke khelta hai. We have coaches and runner boys who bowl to them. Sometimes, we organize matches. Ultimately, this is not our bread and butter and hence, we cannot risk injuring actors, lest their real profession suffers.

Salman Khan was announced as the brand ambassador of Mumbai Heroes this season. Is there any possibility that the superstar can play one of the matches?
(Smiles) The stakes are quite high as it’s a competitive sport. The position that he is in, we don’t want him to get hurt and we don’t want his shooting to get cancelled (laughs)! In the past, there have been some dangerous injuries. Sonu Sood got injured once very badly. Sharad Kelkar, too, got hurt. They had to miss their shootings and their film’s schedules went haywire. Hence, you need to be very careful about this aspect.

Salman Khan, during the 2014 CCL opening ceremony, danced on ‘Lungi Dance’ and it was quite a memorable moment. Will he be present for the opening ceremony of the present edition?
Yes, he’s going to be present in Sharjah and is going to open the season. He’s our brand ambassador and also our mentor. Inshallah, if we make it to the semi-finals and finals, he’ll join us again.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Sohail Khan confirms that he still plans to make Sher Khan with Salman Khan: “There was a delay because of technology; while watching the Marvel films, we realized that we have to be a little ahead of the times”