Mohammad Azharudddin, the former cricketer who joined the Congress last month, will open his political inning from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Azharuddin’s name figures in the list of 14 candidates declared by the party on Friday for Uttar Pradesh, where the party wants to revive its lost votebase by going it alone in the polls.

The candidature of the former India batsman, who hails from Hyderabad, was earlier being considered for Tonk in Rajasthan and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.

So far, the Congress has announced 53 candidates in Uttar Pradesh where its negotiations with the Samajwadi Party for seat sharing collapsed. Former union minister Sanjay Singh was announced as the candidate from Sultanpur, a constituency neighbouring Rae Bareilly and Amethi from where party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi will contest respectively.