Indian Legends Who Entered Politics After Retiring From Cricket: When an Indian cricketer holds the bat or the ball on the cricket field, he becomes the center of expectations of crores of countrymen. After finishing their innings on the sports field, many Indian stalwarts have played their second innings in the political arena as well. For Indian fans, this player is not just an athlete but an idol. This is the reason why his debut in politics is always a topic of discussion. In this context, the political journey of former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has been full of ups and downs like his cricket career. After saying goodbye to cricket in 1999, he joined Bharatiya Janata Party in 2004.

6 Indian legends who entered politics after retirement from cricket

1. Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu from Bharatiya Janata Party was elected Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar for the first time. He has represented this seat many times. However, in the year 2017, he took a big political U-turn and joined the Indian National Congress (INC). Sidhu has also held important responsibilities in the Punjab government as Minister of Local Government, Tourism and Cultural Affairs.

2. Mohammad Azharuddin

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s entry into politics was much talked about. He had to face a long legal battle due to match fixing allegations, in which the court later gave him a clean chit. After this Azhar started his new innings. Just before the 2009 general elections, he joined the Indian National Congress and reached Parliament by contesting from Moradabad seat in Uttar Pradesh.

3. Kirti Azad

Kirti Azad is a member of the 1983 World Cup winner and son of former Chief Minister of Bihar Bhagwat Jha Azad. He started his political journey by becoming MP from Darbhanga, Bihar on BJP ticket. Azad is currently a member of Parliament from Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat of West Bengal from Trinamool Congress (TMC).

4. Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir, who made an important contribution in India winning two World Cups (2007 and 2011), said goodbye to cricket in the year 2018. Immediately after retirement, he entered politics. Gambhir joined BJP in the year 2019 and won the East Delhi seat with a huge vote in the Lok Sabha elections held this year, but in the year 2024, he announced his retirement from active politics citing cricket commitments (coaching and mentorship).

5. Chetan Chauhan

Former Indian opener Chetan Chauhan traveled a very successful journey in politics after sports. He joined BJP and was elected to Parliament twice from Uttar Pradesh. Chauhan was not only an MP, but he played a big role in improving the sports infrastructure of the state by holding important posts like Youth and Sports Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. At the same time, Chetan’s decency and steadfastness were visible in his political life also.

6. Mohammad Kaif

Former Indian cricketer and famous for his excellent fielding on the field, Mohammad Kaif was clean bowled on the political pitch. He started his political journey from the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He had contested the elections from Phulpur parliamentary seat of Uttar Pradesh on Congress ticket. In this electoral battle, Kaif was defeated by BJP’s Keshav Prasad Maurya. While Maurya got more than 5 lakh votes, Kaif got only 58,127 votes (about 6 percent).

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin is soon going to become a cabinet minister in the Telangana government. Azharuddin has been associated with Congress since 2009 and has also been an MP from Moradabad region. Actually, he will not be the first cricketer who is going to get a ministerial post. Here you can see the list of all those cricketers who have held some ministerial post or the other.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu was elected MLA from East Amritsar seat in the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. At that time he was made the Minister of Tourism and Local Bodies in the Punjab Government. However, this ministerial post was taken away from him in 2019.

Manoj Tiwari

Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwari joined All India Trinamool Congress in 2021. He became MLA from Shibpur seat in the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections. He was given the post of Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs in the Bengal Government.

Lakshmi Ratna Shukla

All-rounder Lakshmi Ratna Shukla played 3 ODI matches for India in 1999. He was elected MLA from North Howrah seat in the 2016 Bengal Assembly elections. When Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of Bengal for the second time, Lakshmi Ratna Shukla was made the State Sports and Youth Services Minister.

Manoharsingh Jadeja

Manoharsingh Jadeja was elected MLA thrice in the Gujarat government of Congress. During this period, he was also the Finance Minister, Youth Affairs Minister and Health Minister. Jadeja could not debut for the Indian team, but took 614 runs and 5 wickets in 14 first class matches.

These cricketers remained in politics

Apart from these, many Indian cricketers have entered politics after retirement. The current head coach of the Indian team, Gautam Gambhir was elected MP from East Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He left politics after the completion of his term in 2024. Apart from him, Yusuf Pathan, Kirti Azad, Chetan Chauhan, Harbhajan Singh have also entered politics.

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