Cricketers and politics: India

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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

1957-2019

Avijit Ghosh, April 9, 2024: The Times of India

It’s not cricket. But all-rounder Yusuf Pathan could be an impact player for Trinamool Congress in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Pathan, a member of World Cup-winning squads in 2007 (T20) and 2011 (ODI), will try to unseat Congressman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has held sway in his pocket borough Behrampore since 1999. Another World Cup-winning cricketer, Kirti Azad, is in the electoral fray, again on a TMC ticket, from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency. Here’s a list of all cricketers who played on the tricky pitch of Lok Sabha elections over the decades:


FATEHSINGHHRAO GAEKWAD

The maharaja of Baroda, who played first class cricket, once scored 99 in a Ranji semi-final, and later got busy as a BCCI president and cricket manager, represented Congress in 1957, 1962, 1971 & 1977.


DR VIJAYA ANAND ‘VIZZY’

The maharaja of Vizianagaram, who controversially captained India in three Tests in the 1930s but was more talkedabout for his colorful radio commentary, triumphed on a Congress ticket from Visakhapatnam in 1962.


MANSUR ALI KHAN PATAUDI

After getting axed as India’s Test captain, Pataudi jr fought for the Lower House from Gurgaon in 1971. His party: VHP. Not Vishwa Hindu Parishad but Vishal Haryana Party. The former India captain, who occasionally campaigned in a limousine, fared dismally. Twenty years later, he contested from Bhopal, this time on a Congress ticket. The result didn’t change.


CHETAN CHAUHAN

Sunil Gavaskar’s steadfast opening partner won the 1991 and 1998 elections from Amroha on a BJP ticket. He lost in 1996, 1999 and 2004; the vote share plummeting from 42.5% (1991) to 14.7% (2004). He told this reporter in 2009, “In cricket you face only one ball delivered by one bowler. But in politics, you never know who will bowl a beamer and from where.” Chauhan succumbed to Covid in August 2020.


KIRTI AZAD

Son of former Bihar CM Bhagwat Jha Azad, he won on a BJP ticket from Bihar’s Darbhanga constituency in 1999 but lost badly in 2004. One of ‘Kapil’s Devils’, the all-rounder regained the seat in 2014, before quitting the party to join Congress. He was trounced by nearly five lakh votes in Dhanbad in 2019. Azad joined Trinamool two years later.


CHETAN SHARMA

The former India pacer, who claimed a hat-trick in the 1987 World Cup, fought the Faridabad seat on a BSP ticket in 2009. He finished third. 


RANEE NARAH

Captain of the Assam women’s cricket team, she became a three-time LS MP for Congress from Lakhimpur, winning in 1998, 1999 & 2009.


MANOJ PRABHAKAR

The all-rounder contested from South Delhi in the All India Indira Congress (Tiwary) in 1996, and lost. He got 3% of the votes polled.


RANJIB BISWAL


The former under-19 international and son of former Odisha deputy CM Basant Kumar Biswal emerged victorious on a Congress ticket from the Jagatsingh constituency in 1996 and 1998, and again from Kendrapara in 2014.


NAVJOT SIDHU

He scored a hat-trick of wins from Amritsar (2004 and 2007 in bypolls, and 2009 in general elections) for BJP. In his second innings, he is batting for Congress.


ANURAG THAKUR

The son of former Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal played one Ranji game against Jammu & Kashmir in 2000. His off-breaks fetched him two wickets. The BJP politician fared much better in the world of politics, enjoying an uninterrupted run in LS since the 1998 by-election in Hamirpur. 
 ASHWINI MINNA

The leg-break bowler, who played first-class cricket for Punjab and scalped Gavaskar as his first victim, became BJP MP from Karnal in 2014. He filed his nomination as Ashwini Kumar Chopra, prevailing by over 2.5 lakh votes.


MOHD KAIF

The 2003 World Cupper contested without success from Phulpur for Congress in 2014.


MOHD AZHARUDDIN 


The cricketer, who led India in 3 ODI World Cups and was later embroiled in a betting controversy, won from Moradabad as a Congress candidate in 2009. He lost in 2014 from Tonk. 


BANSI LAL’S GOOGLY 


In 1971, MAK Pataudi was pitted against the Haryana politician Bansi Lal. The wily politico used rustic logic to good effect. He is said to have asked the Gurgaon voter: “You want to vote for Pataudi? What good will it do you if he wins this election? To meet him you’ll have to get into the stadium first. And you know how difficult it is to get into a cricket stadium in the country. Granting you get in, what will he give you? At most, a bat and ball.” From Raju Bharatan’s Indian Cricket: The Vital Phase.


 GAUTAM GAMBHIR

The southpaw opener, who played a stellar role in India’s World Cup triumphs in 2007 and 2011, won handsomely on a BJP ticket from East Delhi in 2019. In 2024, just before the announcement of poll candidates, he quit politics.