Kirti Azad

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Kirti Azad
Personal information
Full name Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad
Born (1959-01-02) 2 January 1959 (age 65)
Purnea, Bihar, India
Batting style Right-hand
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Role Bowler
Relations Bhagwat Jha Azad (Father)
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 150) 21 February 1981 v New Zealand
Last Test 12 November 1983 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 29) 6 December 1980 v Australia
Last ODI 18 April 1986 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years Team
1976-1994 Delhi
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 7 25 142 72
Runs scored 135 269 6,634 1521
Batting average 11.25 14.15 39.48 27.16
100s/50s 0/0 -/- 20/27 0/8
Top score 24 39* 215 94
Balls bowled 750 390 15420 2086
Wickets 3 7 234 50
Bowling average 124.33 39.00 30.72 27.48
5 wickets in innings - - 5 -
10 wickets in match - - - -
Best bowling 2/84 2/48 7/63 3/16
Catches/stumpings 3/- 7/- 95/- 22/-
Source: ESPNCricinfo, 19 August 2014

Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad Audio file "Kirti_Azad.ogg" not found (born 2 January 1959, Purnea, Bihar) is a former Indian cricketer and politician who played in 7 Tests and 25 ODIs from 1980 to 1986.

Azad is the son of former Chief Minister of Bihar Bhagwat Jha Azad. He was an aggressive right-hand batsman and a quickish offspinner. A surprise choice for the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1980-81, he made his Test debut at Wellington. The highlight of his career was being part of the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup.[1]

He is currently serving his third term in the Lok Sabha. He won the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections from Darbhanga.

Domestic career

He attended Modern School in Delhi where he was part of the school cricket team. Azad, a nonconformist in many ways, was a stalwart allrounder for Delhi for years and in 95 Ranji Trophy matches he scored 4867 runs (47.72) and took 162 wickets (28.91). His highest score was 215 against Himachal Pradesh in 1985-86.

International career

He was a surprise choice for the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1980-81, he made his Test debut at Wellington. He then played three Tests without much success against England in 1981-82 and was then ignored till he was picked for the World Cup in 1983. Azad had his day in the sun when he played a leading part in India winning the semi-final against England, when he helped bottle up the middle order with his fastish off=breaks and earned a bonus while bowling the dangerous Ian Botham.

Azad also played a memorable innings against Pakistan in 1983 at New Delhi, in an exhibition day/night match. Pakistan batted first and made 197 runs for 3 wickets in 50 overs with Azad taking all 3 wickets. In India's reply, Kirti scored a rapid 71 not-out and steered India to a one-wicket victory. He hit seven sixes, including three consecutive sixes off Pakistani medium pacer Jalaluddin.[2] But he met with no success in three Tests against Pakistan and West Indies and was discarded.

Politics

Later he followed his father Bhagwat Jha Azad, former Chief Minister of Bihar,[3] into politics and was elected to Parliament on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket from Darbhanga, Bihar. He is currently serving his third term in the Lok Sabha. He was previously an MLA from Delhi's Gole Market constituency.[4] He won the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections from Darbhanga.[5] On 23rd December 2015 he got suspended from Bharatiya Janata Party for openly targeting Union finance minister Arun Jaitley over alleged irregularities and corruption in Delhi's cricket body Delhi and District Cricket Association.[6]

Personal life

Azad is married to Poonam and has two sons.[7] His elder son Suryavardhan has played for Delhi Under-17s, Under-19s and Under-22s, while his younger son Somyavardhan has played for Delhi Under-15s and Delhi Under-17s.[8][9]

Views on IPL

Following a 2012 sting operation on players of Indian Premier League (IPL), Azad came out in opposition of the tournament and demanded that it be banned.[10] Speaking about the Indian T20 team, he reportedly alleged that the players played for self rather than the country. He further said that he felt agitated and ashamed to be associated with the BCCI in the wake of the IPL controversy.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ http://india.gov.in/govt/loksabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=25
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/election-live-2014-march-13/
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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