Harman Baweja played Muralitharan easily

Some of the best batsmen find it tough facing Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, but actor Harman Baweja says it was almost a cakewalk thanks to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.

Harman revealed that he and Sangakkara had hit it off well and the wicketkeeper helped him read Muralitharan's confusing bowling during the filming of his latest cricket-based film "Victory".

"We were shooting a match against Sri Lanka for the film. I was batting, Murali was bowling and Sangakkara was keeping wickets. I had made good friends with Sangakkara and whenever Murali used to bowl, Sangakkara used to read it and tell me how to play the shot," Harman told IANS in New Delhi.

The actor, who made his Bollywood debut with box office dud "Love Story 2050" last year, said Muralitharan was left perplexed on several occasions.

"Everyone knows Muralitharan for the way he spins the ball. It's really tough to play against him. As soon as Sangakkara used to tell me how I should play, I used to prepare my shot accordingly. In fact I ended up hitting all of his deliveries and I even hit four boundaries.

"Murali used to get very irritated and in his native language, he used to ask Sangakkara how I was able to hit so easily," Harman said.

The budding actor, who plays a cricketer in "Victory", says it was tough playing with national and international cricketers, who have cameos in the film by debutant director Ajitpal Mangat.

"It wasn't easy to play with these cricketers. I used to practise three-four hours a day with my cricket coach Pravin Amre. All the training came in very handy to me to look like a professional cricketer. And the best part of the shooting was that I've now learnt the meaning of the cricket terminology that I earlier used very casually," he said.

Apart from the real-life cricketers, Harman shares screen space with Amrita Rao in "Victory".

His next film in the pipeline is Ashutosh Gowariker's "What's Your Rashee?" opposite his "Love Story 2050" co-star Priyanka Chopra.

Indo-Asian News Service

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