Who is Salil Ankola? Ex-India cricketer whose mother committed suicide

Who is Salil Ankola? Ex-India cricketer whose mother committed suicide

New Delhi: Former India cricketer Salil Ankola was struck with the heartbreaking news of his mother’s demise on Friday. Aged 77, Mala Ashok Ankola was found dead in her Pune flat with her throat slit as conveyed by a police official to news agency PTI, who further added that the injuries prima facie looked “self-inflicted”. The body was found during the afternoon at the flat which is on Prabhat Road in the Deccan Gymkhana area.

The incident surfaced when her maid came to the flat and no one answered the door after which she alerted Ankola’s relatives. When the door was opened, Ankola’s mother was found dead with her throat slit. The police said that she suffered from some mental ailment and that they were probing the case from all angles.

 

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Ankola’s family seems to have a history of mental illness as the cricketer-turned-actor himself battled depression some years back after quitting cricket. Representing Team India, he played one Test match and 20 ODIs between 1989 and 1997. When his cricketing career was languishing, he resorted to acting where he featured in films and TV serials. Here’s a look at Salil Ankola’s history, his life journey, and everything in between.

Who is Salil Ankola?

Salil Ankola was born on March 1, 1968, into a south Indian Konkani-speaking family hailing from the Ankola town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. Developing an early interest in cricket, Salil pursued his passion and made his first class debut at the age of 20 for Maharashtra in 1988-89. His role was of a right-arm fast-medium bowler as he later went on to play for Mumbai, regularly opening the attack.

His consistent form for Mumbai earned him a maiden India call-up when the team was on a tour of Pakistan in 1989-90. He made his Test debut in Karachi alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis, who both became successful cricketers later in their careers. The match was drawn and Ankola registered figures of 2/128. He sustained injuries during the tour which prevented him from appearing in the remaining Tests of the series.

A month later, he made his ODI debut which was against Pakistan at the Jinnah Stadium. His last ODI was against Zimbabwe as he finished his career with 13 wickets out of those 20 one-dayers.

Acting line

He was 28 when he hung his boots to pursue a career in acting, beginning his second innings. Since then he went on to appear in several Indian soap operas and a handful of Hindi films. With a shifted focus, Ankola made his acting debut with the Zee TV serial Chahat aur Nafrat. He ventured into films with the 2000 Hindi-language movie Kurukshetra where he played the role of a junior police officer, the senior being Sanjay Dutt.

Salil played the titular character Vikraal in the horror show “Vikraal aur Gabraal” and also featured in another horror soap “Ssshhhh…Koi Hai.” He even played a role in the hit thriller TV show “CID” and stepped into reality television with the inaugural season of Big Boss. However, he was ejected on Day 6 itself. He was also featured in the crime show “Savdhaan India” in 2013.

Battling depression; personal life

Sometime in the 90s, Salil married Parineeta and the couple had two children – a daughter and a son. In 2008, it was reported that Ankola had been suffering from depression and had to be enrolled in a rehabilitation centre in Pune. The illness’ reason was believed to be his increased addiction to alcohol. Due to this, his wife decided to settle down with her parents in Pune, also taking children with her which left Ankola isolated.

When he recovered in 2010, he sent a legal notice to his wife where he demanded a mutual separation from his wife, who rather wanted to make amends by reconciling. However, Ankola didn’t want to reconcile with Parineeta and the couple finally divorced in 2011. However, a tragedy struck him when in 2013, Parineeta’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her room at her residence in Pune.

In 2014, Ankola married Ria Banerjee who is a doctor by profession. They recently completed 10 years of marriage, the pictures of which were shared by Ankola on his Instagram handle. The major highlights of his career have been his selection as the chief selector of the Mumbai Cricket Association in 2020 and being the national team selector from January 2023 till August 2024.

 Salil Ankola represented Team India between 1989 and 1997 during which he featured in one Test match and 20 ODIs. He later resorted to acting after quitting cricket early to begin his second innings.  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today