5 cricketers who have held important government positions
Imran Khan, the former enigmatic skipper of the Pakistani cricket team, has won cricket's most coveted trophy, the ICC World Cup for his nation. Now, he is likely to win big in the field of politics, as the 65-year-old is pipped to be Pakistan's next Prime Minister. In the Pakistani general election of 2018, his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won 116 seats amongst the contested 270, according to the Electoral Commission's announcement on 28th July.
However, Khan is not the only cricketer who turned his attention towards politics after hanging his boots. History will testify that there has been a string of cricketers who changed their field of interest post-retirement, or in some case while playing cricket. Let us have a look at 5 cricketers who have held important positions in the government:
#5 Kirti Azad
Kirti Azad, the son of former Chief Minister of Bihar Bhagwat Jha Azad, had a good domestic career, but couldn't impress in the bigger stages. Azad was a part of the 1980-81 Indian team that toured Australia and New Zealand. Having played 7 Tests and 25 ODIs for his country, the 59-year-old failed to produce one memorable performance.
In 2014, the Purnea-born cricketer-turned-politician contested the Lok Sabha elections from Darbhanga in Bihar, which he won. Previously, he was an MLA from Gole Market constituency of Delhi. He was suspended by the Bharatiya Janata Party on 2015 for openly targeting the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley and corruption in Delhi & District Cricket Association.