Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu is all set to get into his new avatar. According to the Reports, he is all set to enter politics and fight Lok Sabha elections on the YSRCP Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party ticket from Andhra Pradesh.
After winning the Indian Premier League IPL for a record sixth time, Rayudu recently met the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. However, whether he will contest the assembly polls or Lok Sabha is not clear.
Rayudu has a strong chance of fighting elections from Guntur West or Ponnur if he decides to stand for the assembly polls. If he decides to give Lok Sabha polls a shot then Machalipatnam is where he may fight elections from.
Apart from Rayudu Mohammad Azharuddin is another cricketer from Telangana — earlier Andhra Pradesh — who fought on an Indian National Congress ticket and was elected as a Member of Parliament from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. He served as an MP from 2009 to 2014.
Apart from these two, Manoj Tiwary also joined the Trinamool Congress Party, ahead of the assembly polls in West Bengal in 2021. He played for Bengal and also played in the Indian Premier League IPL for Punjab Kings XI, Kolkata Knight Riders KKR, Delhi Daredevils, etc. At present, he is the minister of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The man whose innings of 97 in the 2011 World Cup finals got overshadowed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 91 Gautam Gambhir also entered politics in 2019. He is currently a BJP MP from East Delhi.
Like Gambhir, former Indian cricket and member of the World Cup winning team of 1983, Kriti Azad had also joined the saffron party way back in the late 1990s. He was also in the race to be the chief minister of Delhi. Now he is part of the All India Trinamool Congress.
Former Test opener Chetan Chauhan became a Member of Parliament from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh in 1991 and 1998. He was also a BJP member. In 2020, he died after having tested positive for Covid. Chauhan and Sunil Gavaskar opened for India almost for a decade in the 1970s.
Another former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar also joined BJP after his retirement from cricket after mulling a career with Congress which didn’t really work.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, now with the Indian National Congress began his career with the BJP and was the Amritsar MP before turning to state politics as part of the Congress.
Ashok Dinda, who is currently a legislator from Moyna also entered politics after his political career got over. He played for Delhi Daredevils, Gujarat Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, and other teams. Others who switched from cricket to politics included Vinod Kambli, Masur Ali Khan Pataudi, and Mohammad Kaif.