Kirti Azad

Kirti Azad

Kirtivardhan Bhagwat Jha Azad pronunciation (born January 2, 1959, Purnea, Bihar) is a former Indian cricketer who played in seven Tests and 25 ODIs from 1980 to 1986. Born in a Hindu family, 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.

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. Both his sons, Surya Azad and Somya Azad, have played national level cricket for Delhi.

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.