Dilip Kumar Wanted To Be ‘Country’s Best Sportsman’, Saira Banu Reveals With Never-Seen-Before Photo – News18

Veteran actress Saira Banu joined Instagram last week on her late husband, legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s death anniversary. Since then, she has dropped multiple photographs with the actor, sharing anecdotes from their lives. On Thursday too, Saira Banu shared a throwback photograph of the actor and talked about his love for sports.

In the picture, Dileep Kumar was seen playing cricket in what looked like a residential place. Along with the black-and-white picture, Saira Banu penned down a long emotional note and revealed how Dilip Saheb always wanted to become ‘the country’s best sportsman’.  “However, The Almighty and Fate had fashioned a very different destiny for Mohammed Yousuf Khan… at that time, every evening after college he always went to the grounds behind the Metro Cinema to play cricket and football with passion,” she wrote.

“With other like-minded sports enthusiasts… Sahibji sweetly narrated to me how with great excitement he purchased his first cricket bat and sports shoes from a shop near Metro Cinema…! The athletic side of Dilip Sahib was so strong while in school and college that he emerged a winner and victorious also in every 200 meters race,” the actress added.

Saira recollected a funny incident about her own cricket prowess and further wrote, “Once all the film stars got together to play a benefit cricket match…. Sahib ji trained me for a week-long in our garden for bowling… we were to play in Dilip Kumar Sahib’s Team and Raj Kapoor Saab’s team….With my bowling… can you believe I bowled the captain out first ball…to which Raj ji could not stop laughing “‘Arrey, yeh ladki toh serious ho gayi hai'”…eventually I bowled out 8 of them.”

Saira Banu and Dilip Kumar’s love story is no secret. The two got married in 1966. At that time, Saira Banu was just 22 years old. The couple had also done a few films together including Jwaar Bhata, Sagina and Bairaag. They spent 56 years together before Dilip Sahab passed away in July 2021.