Former Indian captain Azharuddin starts new innings as Telangana Minister

Former Indian Cricket captain and Congress leader Md. Azharuddin began his new innings as a Minister in the Revanth Reddy Cabinet in Telangana on Friday (October 31, 2025).

Mr. Azharuddin has been dabbling in politics for the last 15 years, sailing with the Congress party and the party’s central leadership too has rewarded him, rather used his popularity to gain mileage. First, on joining, the Congress party fielded him as the candidate from Moradabad Lok Sabha seat in 2009, which has significant minority population. He made his electoral debut as an MP from the seat.

But, for reasons best known to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership, he was shifted to Tonk-Sawai Madhopur parliamentary constituency in Rajasthan in the 2014 elections but failed to scrape the elections against influential Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sukhbir Singh Jaupuria.

The former star batsman continued his tryst with the Congress party and was elevated as the working President of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) around the same time when Mr. Revanth Reddy decided to switch his political loyalties to the Congress from Telugu Desam Party.

The party decided to field him in the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency, which again has a considerable minority population, which is seen as influencing the outcome of the election. Unfortunately, his debut election for Assembly was halted by the BRS candidate Maganti Gopinath — who won the polls with convincing margin of over 16,000 votes. The BRS MLA passed away in June this year necessitating a byelection.

Mr. Azharuddin was a strong aspirant for the ticket in the byelection, but the party decided to favour Naveen Yadav as the nominee. Before that, in August, he was nominated to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota. He is yet to take oath as the MLC.

Political equations forced the Congress leadership to suddenly decide on making him a Minister given its significance in influencing the Jubilee Hills bye-elections.

First-class cricket debut at 18

Several decades earlier, prior to getting busy in politics, Mr. Azharuddin began his serious cricketing journey in school and local leagues in Hyderabad and played for his university team. He made his first-class debut for Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy in the 1981-82 season, at the age of 18.

He did well in the domestic circuits in the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons, which brought him into national reckoning. He made his test debut for India on December 31, 1984, against England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He made an instant impact, scoring centuries in each of his first three Tests. His ODI debut followed soon after, on January 20 against England.

Captaincy in 1990

Mr. Azharuddin succeeded Krishnamachari Srikkanth as India’s captain in 1990. As captain, he led the side in 47 Tests and 174 ODIs. He was implicated in a major match-fixing scandal in 2000 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) imposed a lifetime ban on him. The Andhra Pradesh High Court overturned the ban in November 2012.

Azharuddin later moved into politics and cricket administration. He was elected as president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association on September 27, 2019. His tenure was, however, marked with administrative turbulence. In June 2021, the HCA Apex Council removed him as the president and suspended his membership. They also issued a show-cause notice alleging violations of the Association’s constitution/rules.

While an Ombudsman intervened and reinstated him, stating that the suspension was invalid because due process was not followed, a committee in October 2023 found that Azharuddin was disqualified from contesting the HCA elections since he was president of another club (Deccan Blues Club), which was a violation of norms.

He has been in the news recently, too. In 2019, a resolution was passed to rename the North Stand at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium after Azharuddin. However, earlier this year, orders were passed to remove his name from the stadium, stating that there was a conflict of interest when the resolution was passed.

It is to be seen, how he handles the fast paced political developments in Telangana where the BJP has already started targeting him while the BRS leadership feels his elevation is only keeping in mind the Muslim votes in Jubilee Hills constituency.