Mohammad Azharuddin

Who is Mohammad Azharuddin?

Mohammad Azharuddin is an Indian politician and former cricketer. He was an accomplished batsman and captained the Indian cricket team for much of the 1990s, until being banned for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal. The lifetime ban for his alleged match fixing was later found illegal by Andhra Pradesh High Court. A member of the Indian National Congress, Azharuddin won from the Moradabad constituency of Uttar Pradesh to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India.

In his prime, he had a graceful, fluid batting style, comparable to that of his English contemporary, David Gower and Australian batsman Greg Chappell. The wrist flick was his most characteristic shot and he fared best against spinners. The grace and fluidity of his wrist once prompted John Woodcock, a noted cricket writer, to say, "It's no use asking an Englishman to bat like Mohammad Azharuddin. For, it would be like expecting a greyhound to win the London Derby!"

On 8 November 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the life ban on Azharuddin, implicated in the match-fixing scandal of 2000. The High Court said the ban was “unsustainable”.

Former Indian captain and International umpire Venkataraghavan stated "Azharuddin had the best wrists in the game, but Tendulkar isn't too far behind" while praising Sachin Tendulkar. In Oct 2010, Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan called him one of the best players in cricket on par with Sachin Tendulkar.