Laxmi Ratan Shukla sworn in as Sports Minister of West Bengal

‘What about plans in life after cricket’ is a tricky question to answer for most cricketers, especially the ones who do not enjoy any long-term success in international cricket and end up toiling hard in the domestic circuit. But, former Bengal skipper and India international, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, is not one of them after he achieved a whole new high in his life after he was announced as the ‘Sports Minister’ of Bengal today.

It has been hardly six months since he hung up his cricketing boots after an 18-year domestic career, but, Laxmi Ratan Shukla took his first big step in his fresh politic career after being sworn in as part of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s new council of ministers.

It was a swift transition from cricket field to politics. The retired all-rounder, who played three ODIs for India in 1999, fought this year’s Assembly election which concluded barely a couple of weeks ago. He was given a ticket from Howrah North and rode the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) popularity to win the seat by a whopping margin.

He garnered 61,917 votes to beat his rivals Congress candidate Santosh Pathak and the BJP’s Rupa Ganguly, a popular former actress by a huge margin. It was an immense success for Shukla who defeated his nearest competitor, the Left Front-backed Pathak, by a crushing 26,959 votes.

The 35-year-old Shukla is an influential cricketer in Bengal cricket. He announced his retirement last year in the month of December, bringing down the curtains to his 137 First class matches long career in which he scored 6217 runs and took 172 wickets. In 141 List A matches, he scored 2997 runs and claimed 143 wickets.