"Emraan is very apt for the role. He has worked very hard. A lot of people asked me 'Why Emraan is doing my role in the film?' But Emraan is my favorite," Azharuddin said here at the teaser launch of the biopic.
"I have watched almost all his films, and I think he is apt for the role. After this film, he will be called Azhar most of the times," he added.
Directed by Tony D'Souza and produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and MSM Motion Pictures, "Azhar" will be on the life of Azharuddin, who led the Indian cricket team for most of the 1990s.
He was implicated in a match-fixing scandal in 2000, and banned for life. But later in 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the ban.
Meanwhile, Emraan said that playing Azhar on screen is a challenge for him as he has no footwork in the cricketer's "unconventional style of playing the game".
However, he is happy that Azhar himself is training him to learn all the nuances to look convincing on screen.
"There were lot of challenges. One of them was Azhar's style of playing cricket was very unconventional, and I had no footwork on that. So Azhar-bhai started training me for cricket. Then I realised that I have a lot to learn in cricket," said the actor, who earlier has been part of cricket-oriented film "Jannat".
"Hopefully, I have become much better in the past three months," he added.
"Azhar" will release worldwide on May 13, 2016.
