Mohammad Azharuddin (born February 8, 1963) is an Indian politician, former cricketer. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee. He was a member of parliament in the Lok Sabha of Moradabad. He played 99 Tests and 334 one-day games for India. His international career ended when he was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal in 2000 and subsequently banned from the BCCI for life. In 2012, the Andhra Pradesh Supreme Court declared the life ban on too severe a sentence.

Cricket career

He was known for hitting the wrist, much like Indian cricketer Vishwanath and Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas. Azharuddin made his debut for the Indian cricket team in the 1984 Test of Cricket against England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on the 31st drawn game. He then scored two more centuries in his next two Test matches. He scored an aggressive 121 against England at Lord's in 1990.

India faced the prospect of a continuation as Azharuddin finished fifth, scoring his 100 balls out of 88 losing. Former English cricketer Vic Marks called it "the most dazzling test century" he had ever seen in his column for the Observer. In the second test in Manchester, Azharuddin made 179 in response to England's first innings, out of a total of 519. In attack cricket, he made 103 runs with 107 balls on the third day between lunch and tea while he made a 112 run stand with Sachin Tendulkar. Playing his 39th Test, he reached his 10th Test century of 155 balls. The game ended with a draw. Azharuddin finished the series with 426 runs at 85.20. That record was the highest of any Asian captain in a test run in England until 2018, when it was broken by Virat Kohli.

Above all a medium-tier batsman, Azharuddin was known for his offensive nature of cricket and strong slip-catching, despite constantly battling the short ball. Azharuddin played 99 test matches for India and scored 6,215 runs averaging 45.03 points, including 22 centuries and 21 half centuries. His record in ODIs was more impressive, with 9,378 runs from 334 games averaging 36.92. As a fielder, he made 156 catches in ODI cricket. Azharuddin began his career with a 110 against England in Calcutta in 1984 and ended with a 102 against South Africa in Banglaore in 2000, becoming the only Indian and fifth batsman to ever score a century in his first and last friendlies.

Azharuddin was convicted of match fixing in 2000 and banned from the BCCI for life. During India's 2000 tour of South Africa, a series won by India 3-2, Azharuddin averaged 112 runs averaging 28. Other key Indian cricketers whom Azharuddin had nurtured and brought into the match-fixing group had similarly dismal performances.

Captaincy

Azharuddin became the captain of the Indian team succeeding Krishnamachari Srikkanth in 1989. He led the Indian team in 47 Test matches and 174 One Day Internationals. He led the team to victory in 90 ODIs, the highest until surpassed by M.S. Dhoni on 2 September 2014. His 14 test match wins as captain was a record until it was beaten by Sourav Ganguly, who has 21 test match wins to his name.

Azharuddin was convicted of match-fixing in the match-fixing scandal in 2000. The CBI report states that Azhar was the one who introduced the then South African captain, Hansie Cronje, to bookmakers. The ICC and the BCCI banned Azharuddin for life based on a report by K. Madhavan of the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

On November 8, 2012, a Divisional Bench consisting of Judges Ashutosh Mohunta and Krishna Mohan Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the ban based on the evidence found. He has been Chairman of the Hyderabad Cricket Board since 2019.