Lancashire's Saj Mahmood is to make his movie debut later this year, when he features in a new Bollywood movie called Victory.
The film is about cricket with a similar storyline to that of Bend it Like Beckham, about a boy who reaches his dream of playing for India.
The production features some of the biggest names in Bollywood and is expected to be seen globally by hundreds of millions of people. Shooting of the film will start this month in Australia during the Australia-India cricket series and will feature 20 current and recent cricket stars from around the globe.
Mahmood will be joined by fellow countryman Simon Jones, Australians Brett Lee, Allan Border, Mike Hussey and Jason Gillespie, New Zealanders Craig McMillan, Daryl Tuffey, Nathan Astle and Martin Crowe plus the members of the current Indian Cricket Team.
Mahmood will fly to Sydney on January 9 to film his scenes, before returning on January 15.
Once back in the North West, Saj will continue pre-season training with his Lancashire teammates, before flying to India in February to take part in a specialist bowling camp run by Kevin Shine, the ECB's fast bowling coach.
Mahmood said: "I was quite surprised when approached to be involved, but it's a great opportunity to do something very different. I don't have a big role in the movie; I just play myself and bowl - that can't be too difficult to do!"
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