Shah Rukh Khan offered to fly doctor, any number of family members to South Africa: Father on Pujara's injury

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India batter Cheteshwar Pujara's father Arvind has recalled the moment when his son snapped his hamsring during the IPL 2009 and Shah Rukh Khan convinced his family to get the treatement done in South Africa rather than Rajkot in India.

Pujara, who is gearing to play his 100 Test match match in Delhi from Friday, had injured his left knee while playing a warm-up match for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the IPL 2009 which was held in South Africa due to general elections in India.

Shah Rukh Khan, the bollywood superstar and the owner of KKR francise, wanted the best medical support for Pujara - a batter whom he rated high even then. In fact, the Pathaan actor had offered to fly down Pujara's Rajkot doctor and any number of his family members to the Africa nation.

"The other time when I saw joy in his eyes on seeing me was in South Africa when his hamstring had snapped while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). We were keen that he returned to Rajkot and get the surgery done here. But KKR, rather the co-owner Shah Rukh Khan, insisted that Chintu gets treated in South Africa. There was logic in what he was saying. Since rugby players often have this injury, doctors in South Africa were more used to these surgeries," Arvind told The Indian Express in an interview.

"Shah Rukh was also of the view that Chintu had a great future ahead and should get the best medical support. To convince us, he offered to fly Dr Shah and any number of family members to South Africa. I didn’t have a passport so I asked Dr Shah to travel alone. But he insisted that I too should take the trip. All the paperwork was done in record time and I was on a flight to South Africa.

"I still remember the smile on Chintu’s face on seeing me. There he was alone in a foreign country, confined to the hotel room for days while the rest of the team had moved to the next city for their game. He had sounded depressed on the phone. On seeing me, I could see the joy on his face. It reminded me of the little boy on the swing," he added.

Pujara set to join elusive club

The Saurashtra superstar had played just 30 IPL matches till date, but on Friday he is all set to become only the 13th Indian cricketer to play 100 Test matches. The batting mainstay has scored 7021 runs in 99 matches at an average of 44.16.