BBC SPORT | Cricket | Famous Fan: Bindya Solanki

Bindya Solanki plays Nita Mistry, the EastEnders character who has a tempestuous relationship with Robbie Jackson.
Bindya has appeared in many stage productions including playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at the English Shakespeare Company.

For TV she appeared as Asha in the BBC drama Sweet Revenge.

Bindya is the latest figure under the spotlight for our Famous Fan feature.

Q: What is your first cricketing memory?

A: Playing cricket with my brother Baiju in the back garden at my family home in Southend, Essex. He used to drag me away from the TV and make me play.

He's pretty good now - in fact he plays league cricket for Southend but in those days I used to bowl him out quite often!

Q: Which player was your childhood hero?

A: There's Ian Botham, of course, and Graham Gooch - I remember his 333 against India at Lord's in 1990.

Wasim: Pakistan hero in 1992 at the World Cup

But the one who stands out is definitely Wasim Akram when he played for Pakistan in 1992 - the year they won the World Cup.

My brother and I watched all the matches on Sky. He had gone out to buy a dish just to watch the World Cup.

Q: Do you watch much cricket now?

A: So many Test matches have been on recently and nobody has given a fig.

The trouble is people get into other things, like the World Cup and Wimbledon, and cricket misses out.

Q: What would help cricket out if it wants to compete with other sports?

The game needs more men like Botham

A: You need real characters in the sport, I think. Ian Botham was a character - you need more people like him to make it entertaining.

Q: Have you been involved in cricket in any way recently?

A: Yes - I was recently at the Edgbaston cricket centre to help Sport Relief raise money in an indoor cricket tournament.

When I got the phone call to be invited to do it I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to play cricket again and help raise money at the same time.


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