Mumbai: Former Team India player Kedar Jadhav is the latest cricketer to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The 40-year-old Jadhav, who played 73 ODIs and 9 T20Is for the national team, joined the saffron party in the presence of the party’s Maharashtra president Chandrashekar Bawankule here on Tuesday.
“I bow down to Chhatrapati Shivaji. Under (Narendra) Modi ji and (Maharashtra) CM (Devendra) Fadnavis, the BJP is doing politics of development. With this said, I under Bawankule enter and join the BJP,” Jadhav said.
#WATCH | Former Indian Cricketer Kedar Jadhav joins BJP in the presence of Maharashtra minister and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/4reAKk7F1Y
— ANI (@ANI) April 8, 2025
A gutsy middle-order batter, the right-handed made his India debut in 2014 and played his last international game in February 2020.
A close friend of ex-India skipper MS Dhoni, Jadhav hit two international centuries, both in ODIs. His most memorable knock was a magnificent 120 off just 76 balls, which helped India chase down a mammoth 351-run target in the Pune ODI in January 2017.
A member of the 2019 ODI World Cup, Jadhav played 87 first-class matches before retiring in early 2024.
He also played for five different teams in IPL – Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils and Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Before Jadhav, Gautam Gambhir had joined BJP in 2019 and became a Lok Sabha MP too. However, before last year’s general elections, the former India opener quit politics and joined Kolkata Knight Riders as a mentor before becoming India’s coach.
