Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad

Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad pronunciation (help·info) (born January 2, 1959, Purnea, Bihar) is a former Indian cricketer who played in seven Tests and 25 ODIs from 1980 to 1986. He attended Modern School in Delhi where he was part of the school cricket team. The highlight of his career was the Indian victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

Kirti Azad played a memorable innings against Pakistan in December, 1984 at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, in an exhibition match. This was the first ever day/night match, played under artificial lights. Pakistan batted first and made 197 runs from 50 overs. In India's reply, Kirti scored a rapid 71 not-out and steered India to a one wicket victory. He scored many sixes in the knock, the most memorable over being where he hit Pakistani medium pacer Jalaluddin for three consecutive sixes.

After his playing career, Kirti briefly turned his hand to broadcasting in English for television, but initially failed to break in, where other ex-Test cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Arun Lal and others had succeeded. However, in recent times, Kirti has found his niche in compéring post match television cricket chat shows in Hindi, expressing his own opinions in a forthright and sometimes controversial manner, particularly when advocating for player selection.

Later he followed his father into politics and was elected to Parliament on a BJP ticket from Darbhanga, Bihar.

Nowadays he is a member of parliament of India from Darbhanga constituency.Kirti Azad

Personal information Batting style Right-hand bat Bowling style Right-arm offbreak Career statistics Competition Tests ODIs Matches 7 25 Runs scored 135 269 Batting average 11.25 14.15 100s/50s -/- -/- Top score 24 39* Balls bowled 750 390 Wickets 3 7 Bowling average 124.33 39.00 5 wickets in innings - - 10 wickets in match - n/a Best bowling 2/84 2/48 Catches/stumpings 3/- 7/- Source: [1], 4 February 2006