Mumbai, Jan 16 (IANS): Actor Sonu Sood is putting his weight behind an initiative to set up a pan-India platform to promote young emerging cricketers.

"I always dreamt of becoming a cricketer but I didn't have a platform in our small town, but when I see all these young kids playing cricket it feels really good," Sonu said.

He says pitching in for the cause of promoting budding talent in cricket will also let him take time off his busy schedule and reinvent his passion for the sport.

"I like batting as well as bowling but I didn't get much time to play the sport. I feel we all should take some out from our busy work schedules and reinvent our passion. Sometimes when you see these kids playing not just cricket but any kind of sports, you feel motivated to follow them," he said, adding that he has had discussions with Cricfit founder Mikkail Vaswani on "creating a platform on a pan-India level where they (children) can explore their skills and enjoy the sports".

Since last year, Sonu has turned focus on social causes. In 2020, amid Covid lockdown, he reportedly arranged transport to facilitate around 7.5 lakh migrant workers to reach home. He equipped frontline workers with masks and face shields, airlifted students stranded abroad and helped farmers in distress. He also launched Pravasi Rojgar, an app to help skilled and unskilled workers find jobs.

On work front, Sonu will next be seen in "Prithviraj" starring Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt and Manushi Chhillar, apart from a couple of films in the South.