Chennai Super Kings player Harishankar Reddy named popular actor Nani as his favourite. "Natural Star Nani," he said in a video posted by CSK on social media, adding that he has watched Nani's film 'Jersey' "a lot of times", especially the "train scene". "The scene shows him getting added to the team after a lot struggle. It made very emotional." CSK urged Nani to watch the video and the actor responded by quote-tweeting it and adding a comment and an emoji.
'Jersey' is a film about a cricketer who is driven by his desire to play for the Indian cricket team and returns to playing cricket in his late thirties.
"It made me emotional because I can feel the pain," said Harishankar.
Referring to the "train scene", Harishankar said, "People may not connect with why he (the actor) shouts and probably think it is overacting.
"As a player I can understand it better - the pain and the struggle."
Remembering the day he was picked at the IPL auction, Harishankar said: "When I got selected in the auction, players were congratulating me. I went to the room and screamed 'Come one, yes' at the top of my voice.
"I was wondering if it was a dream or for real. I don't know what I was going through. I was just shouting 'come on!'
"That day, I remembered Nani's reaction in the movie. I felt the same emotion of unexpected happiness."
Harishankar went to CSK at the auction in February at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.