World Cup 2019: Why Ranveer Singh was in the vicinity of players and officials at Old Trafford? ICC explains

While players – current and former – were carrying out their responsibilities during the India-Pakistan marquee clash in the ICC World Cup at Old Trafford on June 16, one man was also seen roaming near to the players and commentators and enjoying to the hilt. He is none other than the Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. In yet another outlandish attire, the ‘Gully Boy’ actor was seen taking selfies with cricketers, danced with former great Sunil Gavaskar and even consoled a Pakistani fan after the Men in Green were beaten.

However, people wondered how Ranveer could get to the Players and Match Officials Areas (PMOA) despite not being a past or present member of the cricketing fraternity. The International Cricket Council (ICC) though stood by the actor in this matter and issued a statement clarifying that the actor had not violated any law and certainly didn’t “trespass”.
“Ranveer Singh was accredited by Star as he presented with them and as such had on-field accreditation. Where he spoke to the player was in that zone and not PMOA,” the statement read.

The international governing body also said that Ranveer was in Manchester for commentary purpose. It may be mentioned here that the actor is set to play the role of Kapil Dev in upcoming film ‘83’ which is based on India’s first World Cup victory in England 36 summers back. Ranveer reportedly spent a long time with the legendary all-rounder at his residence in Delhi to learn about his mannerisms.

Ranveer Singh seen embracing Virat Kohli

At Old Trafford, Ranveer was seen embracing captain Virat Kohli after the match besides taking selfies with Hardik Pandya and Harbhajan Singh besides former players like Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag. He was also seen shaking a leg with Gavaskar in the commentary box.

It was a field day for all Indians as Virat Kohli’s men thrashed Pakistan by 89 runs via DLS Method after scoring 336 for 5 in 50 overs. Rohit Sharma hit a match-winning 140 while Kohli made 77. In the bowling, ‘Chinaman’ Kuldeep Yadav bowled beautifully to give India important breakthroughs and win it for them.