Yusuf Pathan to contest LS polls: Top 15 cricketers who contested elections

Yusuf Pathan is not the first cricketer to have forayed into politics after a commendable cricketing career. Here are the 15 major cricketers who tried their luck in politics

Former India cricketer and World Cup winner Yusuf Pathan was named as one of the 42 candidates by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) for the General Elections to the Indian Parliament, commonly known as Lok Sabha Elections.

Pathan will contest the Behrampore constituency in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal and is likely to face an uphill task against sitting Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Pathan is not the first cricketer to have forayed into politics after a commendable cricketing career. Here are the other major cricketers who went into politics. However, not all were able to find success.

Gautam Gambhir - BJP

Gautam Gambhir joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 after quitting all forms of cricket. He contested the Lok Sabha Elections in 2019 and was elected as an MP from the East Delhi constituency. However, in 2024, he did not get the ticket to defend his candidature but remains an active member of the party.

Manoj Tiwary - All India Trinamool Congress

Another cricketer who is currently a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and minister of state for Sports and Youth Affairs in the AITC government is Manoj Tiwary. Tiwary won the assembly elections in 2021 while still playing domestic cricket and went on to become a minister.

Tiwary hung up his playing boots in 2021, then again rejoined the Bengal team to take it to the final of the Ranji Trophy in 2022-23. He finally retired at the end of the Ranji season 2023-24, having played 12 ODIs and 3 T20Is for India and a total of 148 First-Class matches.

Harbhajan Singh - AAP

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was sent to the Rajya Sabha as a representative from Punjab. He is yet to face an electoral contest as Rajya Sabha elections are not the first past the post, because a Rajya Sabha member is elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly. Since AAP had more numbers in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, Harbhajan faced no issue in landing a seat in the Rajya Sabha.

As a cricketer, Harbhajan represented India in all three formats and played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs, and 28 T20Is between 1998 and 2015.

Ambati Rayudu - YSRCP

Ambati Rayudu joined the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in December 2023 and was expected to contest the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections in 2024. But in January, he decided to quit the party to focus on cricket. Rayudu retired from Indian cricket in 2023 after winning the IPL with Chennai Super Kings. He played 55 ODIs and six T20Is for India.

S Sreesanth - BJP

S Sreesanth, more famous for his off-the-field antics and IPL controversies, joined the BJP ahead of the 2015 Assembly elections. He also got a ticket from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency but lost the elections by a margin of 11,447 votes.

Sreesanth played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is for the country between 2006 and 2011. He also won the T20 World Cup in 2007 and ODI World Cup in 2011.

Mohammed Azharuddin - Congress

Mohammad Azharuddin, tainted by the match-fixing scandal, joined the Congress in 2009 and contested the Parliamentary elections from the Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh. He won and became an MP but failed to win in the 2014 elections as he was shifted to Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan.

Not being preferred in 2019, Azhar was pitched as a candidate in the 2023 Assembly elections from Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, his hometown. However, he lost the election to BRS’ M Gopinath by 16,200 votes. Azhar played 99 Tests and 334 ODIs for India.

Navjot Singh Sidhu - Congress and BJP

Navjot Singh Sidhu has been one of the most recognised faces of cricket in Indian politics. Sidhu joined the BJP in 2004 and won the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar. He switched parties in 2017 and joined the Congress. For India, Sidhu played 51 Tests and 136 ODIs.

Kirti Azad - Congress, BJP, AITC

Kirti Azad, son of former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, joined politics in 1999 as he won from the Gole Market assembly constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Azad would then become a two-time MP from Darbhanga, Bihar.

He quit BJP and joined Congress before eventually joining AITC. Azad played 7 Tests and 25 ODIs for India, including the 1983 World Cup.

Chetan Chauhan - BJP

Chetan Chauhan, another of the 1983 World Cup winners, joined BJP and remained an active member of the party until his death in 2020. He was an MP, MLA, as well as a Sports Minister of UP. Chauhan played 40 Tests and 7 ODIs for the national team as an opening batter.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi - Vishal Haryana Party

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, belonging to a royal family and former captain of the India cricket team, entered politics in 1971 through the Vishal Haryana Party, which doesn’t exist now. Pataudi fought two Parliamentary elections in 1971 and 1975 and lost both.
 

For India, MAK Pataudi played 46 Tests between 1961 and 1975.

Mohammad Kaif - Congress

Mohammad Kaif, a gun fielder and a useful middle-order batter, joined Congress ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and contested from the Phulpur constituency in Allahabad. He came fourth and polled only 58,000 votes.

Kaif, an Under-19 World Cup-winning captain, played 13 Tests and 125 ODIs for the senior team. He played 186 First-Class matches.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla - AITC

Before Manoj Tiwary, another Bengal captain had joined the AITC and won the election and became the Sports Minister. It was Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Shukla, who played only three ODIs for India, was a fine all-rounder who scored over 6,217 runs and took 172 wickets in 137 First-Class matches. In 2021, though, Shukla quit AITC and politics altogether to focus on his cricket academy.

Manoj Prabhakar - All India Indira Congress, BJP

Manoj Prabhakar, who too was shadowed by the match-fixing saga, quit cricket in 1996 and joined the All India Indira Congress (Tiwary). He contested from Delhi but was beaten by BJP’s Sushma Swaraj. Prabhakar played 39 Tests and 130 ODIs between 1984 and 1996.

Vinod Kambli - Lok Bharati Party

Vinod Kambli, who is regarded as one of the most talented cricketers to let his talent go to waste, also entered into politics with the Lok Bharati Party in 2009. However, he received no political recognition. Kambli played 17 Tests and 104 ODIs for India between 1993 and 2000.

Palwankar Baloo - Congress

Among all the cricketers to have entered politics and who will soon enter politics, Palwankar Baloo remains the first. A Dalit by caste, Baloo was fielded against B.R. Ambedkar by the Congress in the Bombay Legislative Assembly election of 1937. He was defeated by a margin of just 2,025 votes.

Baloo could not represent India but played 33 first-class games between 1905 and 1921, taking 179 wickets and scoring 753 runs in them.