Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu is an Indian former cricketer, television personality and politician from the Indian National Congress. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs in the state government of State of Punjab. Sidhu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2004 and contested the general election from Amritsar that year. He won the election and held the seat till 2014 winning also the next election. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 from Punjab before he resigned from the position the same year and quit the party. In 2017, he joined the Indian National Congress and was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Amritsar East. He lost in 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election from Amritsar East Assembly constituency.
As a professional cricketer, Sidhu had a career spanning over 19 years after his first-class debut in 1981–82. After losing his place in the national team following his international debut in 1983–84, he returned to score four half-centuries in the 1987 World Cup. Playing mostly as a top-order batter, Sidhu went on to play in 51 Tests and 136 One-Day-Internationals for his country. He came to be known for his six-hitting ability and earned the sobriquet "Sixer Sidhu". He was part of the Indian squads that won the 1988 Asia Cup, the 1990–91 Asia Cup and the 1995 Asia Cup and semi finalists in the 1987 Cricket World Cup and 1996 Cricket World Cup.
After retirement, he turned to commentary and television, most notably as a judge of comedy shows, and as a permanent guest in Comedy Nights with Kapil and later The Kapil Sharma Show. He was a contestant in the reality television show Bigg Boss and was seen in the show Kyaa Hoga Nimmo Kaa.
In 1988, Sidhu was involved in [|road rage incident] of assault and causing the death of a man. In May 2022, the Supreme Court of India convicted him of voluntarily causing hurt and sentenced him to 1 year rigorous imprisonment. He was released after serving nearly 10 months of his sentence at Patiala Jail.
Early life and biography
Sidhu was born in Patiala, Punjab, India on 20 October 1963. His father, Sardar Bhagwant Singh was a lawyer and wanted to his son to become a top-class cricketer. Sidhu is an alumnus of Yadavindra Public School, Patiala. He studied in Mumbai at HR College of Commerce and Economics. Sidhu was elected to the Lok Sabha as a member from Amritsar in 2004 on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket; he later resigned, following his conviction in 2006. After the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, he successfully contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, defeating his Congress rival, State Finance Minister Surinder Singla, by 77,626 votes. He is also the present president of World Jat Aryan Foundation. He is a vegetarian.He is married to Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a doctor and a former member of Punjab Legislative Assembly.
Personal life
Former Pakistani cricketer and prime minister Imran Khan is one of his good friends. Many times opposition politicians have criticised Sidhu for nepotism. Fellow players from his cricketing career call him by his pet name Sherry.Cricket career
Failure on debut and success at World Cup (1987)
Sidhu made his first-class debut in November 1981 playing for Punjab against Services in Amritsar. Opening the innings, he made 51 before he was run out, as his team won the match by an innings. He was called up to the Indian Test team in November 1983 after he scored a century for the North Zone playing against the touring West Indies team the previous month. He was drafted to the Test team as a replacement to an injured Dilip Vengsarkar for the Third Test in Ahmedabad. He scored 20 runs in 90 minutes before he was booed out of the ground upon dismissal. After another modest score in the final Test in Madras, he was dropped from the team.Sidhu was recalled to the national team only four years later, for the World Cup. Making his One Day International debut against Australia in the first of the group stage games, he made a 79-ball 73, an innings that included five sixes and four fours. India went on to lose the match by a single run. After the game, Australia's captain Allan Border had remarked: "When the bloke hits the ball, it stays hit." In India's next game, against New Zealand, Sidhu scored a match-winning knock of 75, hitting four sixes and fours each, helping his team record its first win against them in World Cups. Sidhu scored two more successive fifties, against Australia and Zimbabwe, and in the process, became the first player to record four successive half-centuries on debut in ODIs. He carried his fine form into the Asia Cup the following year helping his team regain the trophy. He scored a half-century in the opening match against hosts Bangladesh before making another in the final, receiving man of the match awards for both performances. He finished the tournament scoring three fifties in four innings aggregating to 179 runs and was named man of the tournament.
Return to Test team
Sidhu made his return to the Test side after five years, replacing Mohinder Amarnath, with a century in first innings of the Bangalore Test against New Zealand in November 1988. Batting for 295 minutes, he made 116 in 195 balls, an innings that included four sixes and 12 fours, punishing mostly the spinners, before he followed it up with an unbeaten 43 in the second innings, helping his team win by 172 runs. His second Test century came in the Fourth Test of India's Caribbean Tour later that season. He made 116 while opening the innings retiring hurt 30 minutes before end of play on day one after suffering from cramp in the legs. Wisden wrote, "Batting securely despite obvious flaws in technique, he reached his century in 324 minutes, off 216 balls, and hit eight fours." The innings was considered one of his best considering that the Sabina Park wicket was among the fastest in the world. He totalled 179 runs at an average of 29.83 for the series.Touring Pakistan in 1989–90, Sidhu averaged 38.42 in four Tests, with his best performance coming in the Fourth test in Sialkot. He rescued India in their second innings when down 38/4 putting together a century stand with Sachin Tendulkar while making 97. He was named man of the match. Sidhu injured his wrist in the First Test of India's tour of New Zealand later that season, while facing an aggressive spell of fast bowling by Danny Morrison, ruling him out of the series. He had a poor tour of England and Australia averaging 11.20 and 20.40, totaling 56 and 102 runs respectively, both three-Test series. After poor performances at the domestic level, he was omitted from the 16-member side that was selected to tour South Africa starting October 1992. Ajay Jadeja replaced him in the squad.
Sidhu was recalled when England toured India later that season. He made his third Test hundred in the Second Test in Madras, scoring 106 off 273 balls while opening the innings. He struck a partnership with Tendulkar who made 165 taking their team to 560 before declaration. India went on to win the match and the series. Sidhu particularly attacked spinner John Emburey in his innings that included nine fours. He aggregated 235 in the series at 58.75. Sidhu was India's best performer in the ODI series that followed, scoring 287 runs at 57.40. He played two match-winning knocks: a 76 in Chandigarh followed by an unbeaten 134 in Gwalior. He received man of the match awards for both performances. The latter innings followed after India were down having lost two wickets with 4 runs on the board. Sidhu put together a 175-run stand with Mohammad Azharuddin for the third wicket. En route to his century, Sidhu passed 2,000 runs in ODIs. After India's series-leveling victory in the final game, Sidhu was given the man of the series award.
His first ODI century came against Pakistan in Sharjah in 1989 while his 134 against England at Gwalior in 1993 was his highest ODI score and the innings which he called his best when he retired in 1999. Sidhu told in an interview that an article criticising his dismal performance changed his cricketing life.
After a string of poor performances in 1983, Rajan Bala, a noted cricket columnist, wrote an article on him titled "Sidhu: The Strokeless Wonder" in the Indian Express. It was an epiphany that changed his life and he started taking his cricketing career seriously.
After his improved performance in 1987 World Cup, the same columnist wrote an article titled "Sidhu: From Strokeless Wonder To A Palm-Grove Hitter", applauding his performance.
Sidhu scored over 500 Test runs in a year thrice. His only Test double century came during India's 1997 tour of the West Indies. In 1994, he scored 884 ODI runs. Sidhu was the first Indian batsman to score more than 5 centuries in one day internationals.
201 against the West Indies and retirement
Sidhu walked out of India's 1996 tour of England citing differences with captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Following this, he was banished from the team for ten Tests by the BCCI eventually making a return in the 1996–97 tour of West Indies. He scored a double century in the Second Test at Port of Spain, his first in Tests. Coming off 488 balls in 671 minutes, it was one of the slowest in Test history. He reached his century on day two, and after having scored only 94 runs on the third day, reached the double on the morning of day four. En route, he put on a 171-run stand with Rahul Dravid and a 171-run stand with Tendulkar. The match ended in a draw. Barring the 201, Sidhu had an average series and aggregated 276 at 46.00 in six innings.Sidhu was dropped from the Test side for the series against Pakistan after a poor tour of New Zealand in 1998–99.
He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in December 1999. He played 51 Test matches and over 100 ODIs scoring over 7,000 international runs. He scored 27 First class centuries in an 18-year career.
Known for his tendency to attack spinners, he cracked eight sixes in 124 against Sri Lanka in 1993–94, and four fifties in five innings against the Australians in 1997–98, deliberately singling out Shane Warne.
Some of the nicknames he earned were "Sixer Sidhu" for his prolific batting performances and "Jonty Singh" with respect to his improved fielding in his late career, Jonty Rhodes being the best fielder at that time.