| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 2 January 1959 Purnea, Bihar, India |
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| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||
| Bowling style | Right-arm offbreak | |||
| International information | ||||
| National side | India | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| 1976–1994 | Delhi | |||
| 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: Cricinfo, 4 February 2006 | ||||
Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad (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 being part of the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. His performance as a bowler was a key factor when India defeated England in the semi-finals.[1]
Kirti Azad also played a memorable innings against Pakistan in 1983 at New Delhi, in an exhibition day/night match. Pakistan batted first and made 197 runs for 3 wickets in 50 overs with Kirti Azad taking all 3 wickets. In India's reply, Kirti scored a rapid 71 not-out and steered India to a one-wicket victory. He hit seven sixes, including three consecutive sixes off Pakistani medium pacer Jalaluddin.
Kirti Azad is married to Poonam and has two sons.[2] One of his sons, Surya Azad, has played age-group cricket for Delhi.[3]
After his playing career, Kirti briefly turned to broadcasting in English for television, but initially failed to break in, where other former 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 player selections.
Later he followed his father Bhagwat Jha Azad, former Chief Minister of Bihar,[4] into politics and was elected to Parliament on a BJP ticket from Darbhanga, Bihar. He is currently serving his second term in the Lok Sabha. He was previously an MLA from Delhi's Gole Market constituency.[5]
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