From India Pacer to Minister: Ashok Dinda Begins New Innings as Bengal Sports Minister

Former India fast bowler Ashok Dinda has been appointed West Bengal’s new Sports Minister after winning the Moyna Assembly seat, marking another major chapter in his post-cricket journey.

Ashok Dinda (Image Source: Google)

The political change in West Bengal has a cricket connection also. Former India pacer Ashok Dinda emerged victorious in the Assembly elections again in Moyna, his birthplace (by 16,241 votes) after his maiden victory in 2021 (by 1260 votes). He donned the India cap in 13 ODIs and 9 T20Is with 12 and 17 wickets, respectively. He took at least one wicket in each of nine T20Is he played, with a career-best 4 for 19 coming in a handsome victory against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2012.

Ashok Dinda is yet to forget all his detractors, who had ridiculed him following an unceremonious ouster from the Bengal team just before the start of the 2019-20 Kanji Trophy. In recent times, he also served as one of the coaches in the Cricket Association of Bengal’s Vision Project but now has some added responsibility in the state’s sporting arena, as he has been appointed as the new sports minister of West Bengal.

Ashok Dinda had joined politics after ending his playing career in 2021, ahead of the Assembly elections. Incidentally, on the same day, India cricketer Manoj Tiwary joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) and, after his win, was appointed West Bengal's New Sports Minister, although an active cricketer and captained Bengal in the Ranji Trophy. Now Ashok Dinda holds the same portfolio. West Bengal will have another cricketer as their Sports Minister as Manoj’s predecessor in the ministry was Laxmi Ratan Shukla, another familiar name in Indian cricket.

In cricket, Ashok Dinda shall always be remembered as a forgotten star who deserved a Test cap. He was part of KKR in 2008 and played 78 IPL games for five different franchises, claiming 69 wickets at an expensive bowling average of 30+ and higher economy rates. After being with KKR between 2008 and 2010, he got a one-year stint at Delhi Daredevils in 2011 before switching to Pune Warriors India in 2012. Ashok Dinda stayed with that franchise until their dissolution in 2013. In 2014, he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for a two-year stint and ended with the final two-year stretch with Rising Pune SuperGiant in 2016 and 2017.

He remains one of the most successful fast bowlers in domestic red-ball cricket as he picked up 420 wickets in just 196 innings. In the Ranji Trophy, he was a stalwart for Bengal, grabbing 339 wickets. Among pacers, only R Vinay Kumar, Pankaj Singh, Basant Mohanty, Madan Lal and Ashish Winston Zaidi had more wickets than Dinda in the Ranji Trophy.

His domestic show opened the door for white-ball internationals between 2009 and 2013, but Test cricket opportunity eluded him. Born on March 25, 1984 in Kolkata, Dinda had a powerful and complex bowling action and made his first-class debut in 2005. The right-arm speedster made his India debut in December 2009 in a T20I against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. He continued to play first-class cricket until 2019, featuring 116 of them with the last fixture in 2021. He also took 151 wickets in 98 List A games at an average of 28.50. In 2020, Ashok Dinda left Bengal for Goa but played only one season for his new team before retiring in February 2021.

Incidentally, most of the cricketers joining politics recently have some Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) connection. Gautam Gambhir is the leader of the pack and is joined by Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Dinda and Yusuf Pathan.

A very popular story related to Ashok Dinda is his encounter with Sachin Tendulkar in the Ranji Trophy final between Bengal and Mumbai in 2007. The bowlers in domestic cricket never thought of sledding the Master Blaster’ but the young Ashoke Dinda glared at Tendulkar after hitting him on the elbow.

Deep Dasgupta, the captain of Bengal at the time, had already advised him, 'With Sachin, you just come and bowl' but Dinda had the habit that whenever he would beat the batter, he would just take 2-3 extra steps in his follow-throw and glare at him. Deep categorically told him again, 'Don't say anything to Sachin’ but Dinda didn’t listen to his captain. He stared at Sachin after a few deliveries, and Sachin eventually scored a hundred (105). Mumbai won the match by 132 runs.

Now Ashok Dinda has a new challenge in front of him. ‘I come from a sports background, not politics. Representing India was a matter of pride. But politics is also about serving people, living among them, and helping them. It’s a blessing, a gift from God. Not everyone gets this opportunity. Many people have wealth, but they don’t get the chance to serve. Helping someone get hospital care, supporting families who can’t afford medicine, that is something truly meaningful,’ he says.