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by Ravi Ladduwahetty

Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga becomes the first cricketer in the country to take to politics.

Cricketers taking to politics in the international arena is assuredly, not a new marvel. The most overt one being former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan, one of the summer game's four best all rounders of his time, in juxtaposition with England's Ian Botham, India's Kapil Dev and New Zealand's Sir Richard Hadlee. All captains, barring one.

Imran, like Arjuna, has a parallel in that he too was a World Cup winning captain in Melbourne in 1992. Imran, an Oxford University graduate, and his charisma and flamboyance was at such a peak at one time, that his name was bandied as a potential Pakistani envoy to New Delhi!! However, politically, Imran, is one step ahead of Arjuna. He is the only Test cricketer/captain in the world who leads a political party today. That being the Jamaat-I-Islami Party.

There is also a third instance of a World Cup winning Asian cricket captain trying his luck in politics. India's Kapil Dev who held aloft the World Cup at Lord's in 1983, ending the West Indies run of success which nearly came for the third consecutive time, contested the Haryana seat from the Congress Party for a seat in the Lok Sabha.

There are other Test cricketers who have done politics. They include former Pakistan Captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar who led his country at cricket in the late 1940s soon after the separation from India and who later became an MP in the Pakistan People's Party, the same as slain Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali and his doting daughter Benazir, both Prime Ministers.

He was also a President of the Pakistan Cricket Control Board(PCCB). There was also eminent West Indies bowler Wesley Hall who was later Sports Minister of Barbados and Roy Fredericks who was the opening batsman of Sir Clive Lloyd's invincible team of the late 1970s who was also Sports Minister of Guyana.

Australian all rounder Sam Loxton, a member of Sir Donald Bradman's invincible team in the late 1940s, was later a Member of Parliament.

There were Indians - Mansoor Ali Khan (Nawab of Pataudi- Junior) and all rounder Manoj Prabhakar who also took to politics, but not worthy of serious mention.

Of course, Test Cricketers, like any other human have the option of taking to a profession of their choice after their playing days, which includes the unorthodox ones. This was Arthur Mailey who played Test cricket for Australia in the 1920s and later became a butcher!!

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