Former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan has joined The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and will run for the West Bengal seat of Berhampore in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
With this move, Pathan joins politics as the third member of the World Cup-winning squad from 2011. Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir, Pathan's 2011 World Cup colleagues, have also entered politics.
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Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress state president who presently represents Berhampore in the Lok Sabha, will face Pathan.
In this article, The Sporting News takes a look at all the cricketers participating in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
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Cricketers that are confirmed to participate in Lok Sabha Elections
Yusuf Pathan
The 2007 Twenty20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup-winning all-rounder, at 41, will be making his first forays into the world of politics.
Pathan will contest against Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has held the seat in the Lok Sabha since 1999 and has been a vocal critic of Mamata Banerjee.
Irfan Pathan, Yusuf's younger brother, took to X (formerly Twitter) to wish luck to his brother. “Your patience, kindness, help to the needy, and service to people even without an official position can be easily noticed. I am confident that once you step into a political role, you will truly make a difference in the daily lives of people.” Irfan tweeted on X.
Your patience, kindness, help to the needy and service to people even without an official position can be easily noticed. I am confident that once you step into a political role, you will truly make a difference in the daily lives of people @iamyusufpathan
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 10, 2024
Kirti Azad
Another cricketer on TMC's Sunday announcement list was Kirti Azad, who played for India in the 1983 World Cup. As the party's state lead for Goa since March 2022, Azad will run from the Burdwan-Durgapur seat.
The 65-year-old lost the subsequent elections while running for office in the same constituency with the Indian National Congress after serving as a member of the Lok Sabha for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Dhanbad in 2014.
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