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Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan celebrated his brother Yusuf's massive win in Berhampore in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections on Tuesday, wishing him to bring "transformative actions" with his "integrity and unwavering resolve".
While the counting was still on at the time of Irfan's post on X, Yusuf led by a comfortable margin of over 85,000 votes for the All India Trinamool Congress against Indian National Congress' seasoned politician Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Irfan's post included videos of Yusuf in front of his constituency members, leading slogans of "Jai Bangla" and "Jai Hind".
"Lala @iamyusufpathan With unyielding confidence in your noble cause, you embarked on the daunting journey to triumph over seasoned politicians. Armed with integrity and unwavering resolve, may your noble intentions translate into transformative actions, enriching the lives of our nation's citizens. Mera bhai jeet Gaya 🤗," he said.
Trinamool's choice to field Yusuf from the constituency raised eyebrows early on. Even till the morning of results, many expected Chowdhury to sweep the seat for the sixth consecutive time since 1999. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly had said before poling that Yusuf was "up against Brett Lee".
However, the former India international emerged victorious, bringing the Berhampore seat under TMC for the first time in the party's history.
Yusuf Pathan's KKR connection seems to have paid off
Questions were also raised about why Yusuf, who hails from Gujarat's Baroda, was contesting a seat in West Bengal. He had reverted by citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's candidature from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh as the example.
But it wasn't like Pathan didn't have any connection with West Bengal at all. He spent the better half of his T20 career playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the state franchise in the IPL. Some of his knocks, like the 72 against the SunRisers Hyderabad in IPL 2014 and 40 (21) against the Delhi Daredevils in 2012, both title-winning campaigns, created a cult-figure like legacy for him among the fans.
