Entering the Political arena for the first time, two-time World Cup-winning former Indian cricketer defeated Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by 73,262 votes.
New Delhi: Former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan has vowed to open a sports academy in his Baharampur constituency after the two-time World Cup winner defeated Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday. Yusuf accumulated 4,76,913 votes while Adhir Chowdhury earned 4,03,651 votes.
“I respect Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury a lot. He is a senior leader. I give my best wishes to him… I will open a sports academy to encourage children to represent the state and country… The people have given their support to me,” Yusuf, elder brother of former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, said.
#WATCH | West Bengal: TMC leader and leading candidate from Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, Yusuf Pathan says, “… I respect Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury a lot. He is a senior leader. I give my best wishes to him… I will open a sports academy to encourage children to represent the state… pic.twitter.com/PtHbbzYvlJ
— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2024
The 41-year-old is a first-timer when it comes to politics, his life so far has been defined by cricket where he earned the reputation of being a powerful and clean striker of the ball. Yusuf’s switch to politics was, therefore, a surprise call, or in hindsight, a masterstroke by chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
The duo had celebrated together at the Eden Gardens with team owner Shah Rukh Khan when Yusuf’s IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders triumphed in 2012 and 2014. In a constituency which has over 66 per cent Muslim population, Mamata chose to pit Yusuf against Adhir Ranjan.
Just a week before TMC released the list of its candidates, Mamata approached Yusuf and he was in two minds before finally agreeing, a fight former India captain Sourav Ganguly described as akin to facing Australian pacer Brett Lee. Besides Chowdhury, Yusuf had to take on BJP’s Nirmal Chandra Saha, a known doctor from the region and also deal with the “outsider” barbs from the opposition.
The dynamic all-rounder is one of the few cricketers to have won both the T20 and ODI World Cups, not to mention three IPL titles for two different franchises.
