“I had felt the same tension before the 2007 India-Pakistan World T20 final in South Africa. That helped and I knew that I could handle it,” Pathan, the cricketer turned TMC politician, told The Indian Express while driving to Kolkata to meet his party chief Mamata Banerjee.
The two similar days in the 41-year-old’s storied life both ended in famous wins.
In 2007, M S Dhoni’s young team, in which the all-rounder played a key role, went on to win the inaugural World T20 title against all expectations. Seventeen years later, on Tuesday, Pathan once again proved to be a giant killer, polling 5,24,516 votes to defeat the Congress party’s most vocal MP Chowdhury by 85,022 votes.
A day after the triumph, the Baroda resident, who was labelled during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign by his rivals as an “outsider”, appeared to be settling in the new role as a people’s representative. “Nervousness on a big day is not new. But as time passes, things start getting normal. It is like when I walk out to bat on debut… the more you stay at the crease, the more things get normal. As counting went along, things started easing. I was confident that people would vote for me, the rallies I did, the love I got was amazing,” Pathan said.
‘Pathan in Parliament’ could now possibly be the title of the latest chapter of the endearing fairytale about the son of a muezzin who worked and stayed at Baroda’s famous Jama Masjid. To raise the family that had two budding cricketers — Yusuf and his younger brother Irfan — Pathan Sr also sold ‘ittar’ outside the masjid, worked at a chemical factory and, at times, even drove an auto-rickshaw. Irfan, too, played for the country and the two brothers together have three World titles. Yusuf was also part of the 2011 World Cup winning team.
After playing 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is, Pathan retired in 2022. An animal lover — he keeps birds, rabbits and horses at this farm house — he seemed to be at peace. But four months ago, he got an unexpected call from the TMC. Baharampur’s 52-per cent Muslim voters and the role that Pathan played in Kolkata Knight Riders’ two IPL titles were said to be the reasons for the approach. The brothers then held a long discussion among themselves even as the family “was reluctant”. But then, trusting his instincts, Pathan decided to take the plunge.
“One day, suddenly, I don’t know why, I said ‘Let’s do it, we didn’t go asking for this. This opportunity has come to us, so let us take it’. Through this, we can help people and in case we have to go to Bengal, what is the problem,” Pathan recalled.
He isn’t the only former cricketer to have won on a TMC ticket from Bengal this time. Kirti Azad, the 1983 World Cup winner, too caused a major upset. He won the Bardhaman–Durgapur seat by 1.38 lakh votes, pushing former West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh to second spot.
Now Azad, a four-time MP after his earlier wins from Darbhanga in Bihar, has some advice for Pathan. “You have to work hard as you did on a cricket field. When you are a cricketer, people will flock to see you at stadiums or even when you are in the team bus but here, you have to go meet people, understand their problems and solve them. Yusuf is a giantkiller and there will be a lot of expectations from him. If he comes up to me, I can guide him and let him know that if you work selflessly then nobody can beat you,” Azad said.
Pathan, too, has a plan in place and some learnings. “I never thought I would become an MP. Destiny took me to Bengal. I was born in Gujarat and now God has sent me here to do some work. Yeh duniya alag hai, galiyaan alag hai (This world is different, these streets are different), but my motto is clear, to work for the public,” he said.
The campaign did take Pathan to streets he hadn’t ventured. He talks about bike rides in the interiors of his rural constituency, and recalls one interaction that he will never forget. “A woman ran towards me and handed me Rs 1,000 that was tied in a knot of her saree. Initially, I didn’t understand why she was giving me the money. She said she got Rs 1,000 every month from the Mamata government as part of a scheme. This time, she wanted to give it to me for my campaign. She requested, ‘Idhar accha kaam karna’ (Do good work here). I had tears in my eyes,” he said.