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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