The way Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag has batted this IPL season, he has been the hero for his table-topping team. The franchise are now looking to build on the fan support by portraying the explosive batsman and his team mates as superheroes, taking on aliens in a game of
cricket! The IPL franchise has tied up with popular Indian comic brand, Diamond Comics. It launched four comic books, which include a few chapters on the real life stars of Daredevils.
Cartoonist Pran is the man behind this. Some of the characters created by him were a rage in the 1990s -- Chacha Chaudhary, Saboo, Billu and Pinki - and are still popular. "I did this on very short notice as the tie-up happened just a few days ago. For the moment we have only some of the Delhi Daredevils players as characters in the comics. There will be more in future editions," he said at a launch on Saturday.
The popular cartoonist, who has created nearly 100 characters, said Sehwag reminded him of the most popular among them. "Sehwag to me is the Chacha Chaudhary of cricket. He has a sharp brain like the character, and it works faster than a computer on a cricket ground," he added in a lighter vein.
Sehwag loved his cartoons as a boy and still enjoys reading them. "I had a collection of Chacha Chaudhary comics in my house. While I used to practice, my brother used to read them loudly to keep me entertained," he said.
If he was Chacha Chaudhary, who was Saboo in his team? "Kevin Pietersen," joked Sehwag. "He too is very tall like the character."