Kirtivardhan Azad has hurled a googly at his party

Azad has raised the issue of alleged financial irregularities in the DDCA

That there is corruption in Indian cricket is not news. But only a handful of our former cricketers have mustered the courage to lock horns with India's cricket administrators, which include the country's topmost politicians and industrialists. Kirtivardhan Azad, 58, is a rare former cricketer to have become a whistleblower. Since 2009, Azad has raised the issue of alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).

Azad joined politics in 1993, winning the Gole Market assembly seat in the Delhi polls. In the years that followed, he took up an active role at DDCA. Although retired cricketers Bishen Singh Bedi and Surinder Khanna had been alleging corruption in DDCA for several years, Azad was part of the group that ran the show at DDCA, with Arun Jaitley at its helm from 1999 onwards.

The intriguing bit is how and why he fell out with his colleagues.

The personal is also political, or so it would seem in the case of Azad. After his Delhi victory in 1993, Azad lost the 1998 assembly polls to Sheila Dikshit.

He then moved to Bihar. His father, Bhagwat Jha Azad, was a Union minister for several years, and chief minister of Bihar in 1988-89. Azad won from Darbhanga in 1999.

In 2004, there was an attempt by a section within the party, with the support of ally Janata Dal (United), to deny Azad a party nomination for that year's general elections. He is hardly seen in Darbhanga, they complained to the party leadership. Azad's brusque manner didn't help matters. But L K Advani intervened in his favour. Azad, however, lost that election. Soon after, he started running into trouble with his colleagues at DDCA.

His rivals claim that Azad fell out since he was upset that his two sons, Suryavardhan and Somyavardhan, who played for Delhi's junior age-group teams, were dropped. But those close to Azad say the former cricketer had refused to include players who were recommended by influential people in the under-25 team, where he headed the selection committee, and his sons suffered.

Azad himself was a surprise choice when he made it to the national team for the New Zealand tour of 1981. He was also part of the 1983 World Cup winning team. In total, Azad played 25 One-Day International and seven Tests for India. Although he was an all-rounder for Delhi, Azad failed to make the grade in international cricket.

In 2009, there was another attempt to deny Azad a party nomination from Darbhanga. This time, again, Advani ensured that Azad contested. He won the seat, and also upped the ante, along with Bedi and others, against DDCA's then president Jaitley and former cricketers Chetan Chauhan and Sunil Dev.

"I waded into DDCA unwelcome, having to deal with long-standing and self perpetuating administrators - small-time shopkeepers, tailors and drapers -holding total sway," says Azad.

His detractors say this is all in hindsight and there are enough cricketers on the other side as well. They also point to the mess that DDCA was in before 1999, run as it was by a foul-mouthed old guard that was busy ensuring that their sons, however undeserving, played for Delhi.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Delhi did not produce a single player that was a constant feature on the national side. But there was a turnaround after 1999, with players such as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir becoming the mainstay of the Indian team.

Azad might say that his fight isn't against any individual, but he has become the rallying force for Jaitley's detractors. Azad even alleges that his brother, Yashovardhan, a 1976 Indian Police Service officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was victimised and lost his chance to be director of the Intelligence Bureau at the behest of some people.

Cricinfo describes Azad as a "non-conformist". Azad, it seems, isn't about to keep quiet despite his suspension from the party, which may even lead to his expulsion.