Gujarat-born two-time World Cup champion to contest Lok Sabha polls as TMC candidate from West Bengal

Pathan was one of the candidates who will now field from Berharmpore against Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Gujarat-born two-time World Cup champion to contest Lok Sabha polls as TMC candidate from West Bengal

TMC declared Yusuf Pathan will contest Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal (Images via X, ESPNcricinfo)

Yusuf Pathan was a part of the Indian side that won the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup. He was born in Vadodara, Gujarat in 1982.

But despite being a non-Bengali, Pathan has been chosen by the Trinamool Congress to contest Lok Sabha elections from the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal. As per some reports, Pathan is a close friend of TMC politician Abhishek Banerjee.

YouTube video

On Sunday (March 10), TMC announced a list of 42 candidates for the elections at Kolkata’s Brigade rally. Pathan was one of the candidates who will now field from Berharmpore against Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been a Member of the Parliament from Berhampore since 1999.

The Congress, however, has not named its candidate for the Berhampore seat yet, but it has been assumed that Chowdhury is likely to recontest. Chowdhury, however, did not like TMC’s decision to give Pathan the ticket to contest the elections.

Outsiders were nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Bengal. If Trinamool wanted to honor Yusuf Pathan, it should have sent him to the Rajya Sabha. If Mamata Banerjee had good intentions, she would have asked the (INDIA) alliance to get Yusuf Pathan a seat in Gujarat. But here he is selected as a candidate to polarize the common person and to help the BJP so that Congress can be defeated.
Chowdhury said in a video posted by ANI on X

Irfan Pathan congratulates his brother Yusuf Pathan for joining politics

After TMC announced the names of the candidates, Irfan Pathan, the brother of Yusuf Pathan, took to X to congratulate the 41-year-old for his new career in politics.

Yusuf Pathan
Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan (Image via ESPNcricinfo)

Check his post here:

After winning the T20 World Cup in 2007, Yusuf Pathan was signed by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 and won the title as well. He represented the Royals from 2008 to 2010.

But in 2011, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) roped in the player and Pathan stayed with the team from West Bengal till 2017. He joined Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2018 and remained with the team till 2019.

In case you missed!