Gautam Gambhir starts 2nd innings, Joins BJP

March 22: Ending months of speculation, just days before the national election and with several candidates still to be announced, former cricketer Gautam Gambhir joined the BJP on Friday. The 37-year-old former cricketer from Delhi completed the formalities in the presence of two Union ministers — Ravi Shankar Prasad and Arun Jaitley — and could be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the high-profile New Delhi constituency.

Gautam Gambhir was recently awarded the Padma Shri. He was a high-profile campaigner for Arun Jaitley’s 2014 contest in Punjab’s Amritsar; Arun Jaitley lost the election to Congress’s Amarinder Singh, now Chief Minister of Punjab. The former India opening batsman retired from cricket in December after a 15-year stint. He runs a community kitchen, besides appearing as a commentator.

Gambhir said while joining the saffron party that he decided to take the step after getting influenced by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said it was an honour for him to join the platform. The former Indian opener, who quit the game last December during the Ranji Trophy, is known for his forthright visions and social charity.

Gambhir played international cricket between 2004 and 2016 when he got dropped for poor form after a Test against England. The man has scored over 10,000 runs in international cricket with 20 hundreds. As a captain, too, he has succeeded at different levels with two Indian Premier League titles for Kolkata Knight Riders being his highest feats.