Second innings
Mohammed Azharuddin has shrugged off the ghosts of his past. He is ready to shoulder his new responsibility as a people's rep.
It’s a strange coincidence. The day before I am supposed to speak to Mohammed Azharuddin, I find myself sitting across two friends in a Delhi pub, hearing them animatedly discuss the former Indian skipper and new Member of Parliament. Azhar has obviously not faded from public memory. And he continues to evoke the same extreme reactions: While one of my friends believes that there has never been a more stylish and elegant player to don the India colours, my other friend condemns the man for his alleged role in match-fixing.
It has, of course, been nine long years since the former Indian skipper was banned for life by the Board of Cricket Control in India, and three since that ban was lifted. Yet, he continues to polarise opinion. Some think he was — is — a winner. And then there are those who believe he was a sinner. Fortunately for Azhar, in his latest avatar as a politician, the people of Moradabad have branded him a winner. “People wouldn’t have voted for me if they didn’t have faith in me,” he says when we do meet.
Look back, and you’ll agree that his career bears a strong resemblance to a soap opera: Lofty highs, the lowest of lows, a modest and shy man shaking off his humble beginnings to emerge a leader of men, triumph, heartbreak… One of the finest batsmen to have wielded the willow, his record of 29 centuries (three consecutive ones in his first three ODIs) and 15,000 runs in international cricket bears testimony to his talent. His record as a captain too is second to none: He took over the job when Indian cricket was going through turbulent times and legend has it that he was unprepared for it: When the then chief of selection committee Raj Singh Dungarpur had asked him, “Miyan, captain banoge?”, Azhar had apparently thought he was being asked to lead the South Zone team!
It’s a story that has often been quoted as a measure of the man’s modesty. After all, unlike the cricketing captains of today, Azhar was never known to be media savvy. Today, he seems more at ease. “I enjoyed my time and am proud of playing for my country and captaining the team,” he says.
Off the field too, the shy Hyderabadi never escaped public glare. His marriage to former actress Sangeeta Bijlani became a national talking point and people accused him of being a bit too fond of the good life. His love for designer brands and watches became well known, and every time something went wrong on the field, the knives were out. This, even before the betting controversy. But Azhar didn’t let it affect him, he says. His cricketing career over, he started a chain of fitness centres in Hyderabad and dabbled in real estate.
Even today, with no case pending against him, Azhar continues to be shunned by the cricketing community. You will, for instance, not see him in commentary boxes anywhere. But, he says, he has always been a fighter. “One needs to be patient and not give up. I never let things around me affect me negatively in any way,” he says. And it’s not important to talk of the past, he adds.
People have short memories when it comes to cricket. A few bad innings are forgotten if you come good in the next one. That’s what Azhar intends to do now. “I have realised that being a politician is a full-time job. It may look rosy from the outside, but in reality, it’s the exact opposite.” While campaigning in his constituency, he says, he realised the magnitude of problems faced by the people. “At times we live in ivory towers and don’t realise how difficult it is for the common man,” he admits. One of the main challenges he has taken up is to solve the power crisis in his constituency. “I want to ensure that people have these basic amenities at least,” he says.
But politics is something he never planned to take up. “All I wanted was to play cricket for India,” he says. He did that with aplomb — though captaining Team India brought with it a lot of baggage. Azhar calls it one of the toughest jobs in the world: “You have to live up to the expectations of a billion people and the responsibility can easily bring you down.” He sympathises with the plight of current skipper M S Dhoni. “People in India are passionate and don’t take defeat too well, but he comes across as a level-headed person who will come out stronger,” he says, talking about India’s early exit from the T20 World Cup.
Azhar says he still loves to watch cricket and wants “to give something back to it”. But for now he is concentrating on his political career to justify the faith shown in him by the people of Moradabad.