Shahid Afridi, Gautam Gambhir
Credit: Getty Images.

Former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir made a glittering start to his political career as he was elected as the Member of Parliament from East Delhi seat. He garnered 55.3% vote share. In total, he got 6,96,156 votes to be elected to the parliament right in his maiden stint as a politician.

After a record-break win, Gautam Gambhir received applause and wishes from all corners. But a special wish came from all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who, along with Gambhir, was a member of two World Cup-winning teams. Yuvraj took to Twitter to send his wishes to Gambhir and wrote, “Congratulations @GautamGambhir I am confident that you will work towards bringing about a positive change in the future and make a difference. All the best keep shining.”

 

Gambhir had retired from the game in December 2018 after he played his retirement match against Andhra Pradesh at his home ground, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Even before his retirement, there were speculations that he would join politics. He joined the Bhartiya Janta Party in the month of March and later, it was also confirmed that he would be fielded from East Delhi constituency by the party.

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Gambhir played a total of 58 Tests and 147 ODIs in which he scored 4154 and 5238 runs respectively. A member of 2007 T20 World Cup winning team, Gambhir also played in 37 T20Is where he scored 932 runs.

He had a successful stint as IPL captain with Kolkata Knight Riders. Under his captaincy, KKR won two IPL titles – in 2012 and 2014. He also led Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) in 2018 before relinquishing the captaincy mid-season.

Talking of Yuvraj Singh, he recently played for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2019 but was given a chance in only four matches. As per reports, he was recently considering to retire from international and domestic cricket as he has offers to play in T20 leagues around the world.

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As per the rules, an Indian player cannot participate in any foreign league until and unless he has retired from Indian cricket and IPL as well. Should Yuvraj retire soon, he will also not be part of IPL in future.

He played his last match for India in 2017 on the tour of  West Indies. As per reports, he later failed the yo-yo test, that saw him being dropped from the national side. He had cleared the test in January 2018.