Actor Sushant Singh Rajput's breakout film role in Kai Po Che! three years ago was that of a talented but luckless cricketer who trains a prodigy. Now, he is playing present-day cricket legend M.S. Dhoni, making him Bollywood's best-known cricketer at least.

"But, I was never good enough to be selected in my school team," Sushant disarms this correspondent at Radisson Blu, where he stayed in Dhoni's hometown to promote M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story.

Strumming a guitar in his hotel room - "I need to play the guitar for my next film Takdum with Parineeti Chopra", he grins - Sushant looks like a typical method actor. "I've learnt to keep the wickets for the Dhoni biopic. Now, I am learning how to play the guitar for my upcoming film. I am a good learner," he says.

It can't be easy as it looks. "It is easy to watch the game on TV and give expert comments. But, on the ground, cricket is a very, very difficult ball game altogether. Keeping the wickets, eyeing the ball which comes at jet speed and judging the height to which it may or may not jump, is more difficult," Sushant said.

Like all boys in India, Sushant had played some cricket at school and college. "I was never good enough to get selected in the school team. Even in my college days, I was no better. And I had never before stood behind wickets. So when I was selected to play the lead in the Dhoni biopic, I had to virtually start from scratch," he said.

Coached by veteran Kiran More, it took him around six months to get his footwork in order. "Then, there were sessions with a bowling machine. For months, I tried to hit the ball thrown at me by the machine. The most difficult part was enduring the hard hit on fingertips every time I misjudged the length or height of the ball. It was painful," he said.

But, going by the promos of the biopic, Sushant plays rather well. "Well, Kiran sir today acknowledges I play like a pro, but I would not like to be on any cricket team as yet," Sushant laughed outright.

Cricket apart, Sushant "spent months stepping into the shoes of MSD". "I visited the Mecon cricket stadium at Ranchi where he played, mixed with his friends in Ranchi and Kharagpur, went to the same dhaba and chaat and golgappa joints which were his favourites," he said before leaving for Delhi late on Sunday evening en route to Mumbai.