Navjot Singh Sidhu

(4.09 out of 5)

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Full name – Navjot Singh Sidhu
Born – 20 October 1963 (age 49) Patiala, Punjab, India
Nickname – Sixer Sidhu, Sheri, Sherry Paaji
Batting style – Right-handed
Bowling style – Right-arm medium
Role – Batsman

International information
National side – India
Test debut (cap 166) – 12 November 1983 v West Indies
Last Test – 6 January 1999 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 61) – 9 October 1987 v Australia
Last ODI – 20 September 1998 v Pakistan

Domestic team information
Years Team
1981-2000 Punjab

Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 51 136 157 205
Runs scored 3202 4,413 9,571 7,186
Batting average 42.13 37.08 44.31 41.77
100s/50s 9/15 6/33 27/50 10/55
Top score 201 134* 286 139
Balls bowled 6 4 104 10
Wickets 0 – – –
Bowling average – – – –
5 wickets in innings – – – –
10 wickets in match – – – –
Best bowling – – – –
Catches/stumpings 9/- 20/- 50/- 31/-
Source: espncricinfo, 1 January 2009

Born in Patiala, Punjab on October20, 1963, Navjot Singh Sidhu is a well-known name in Indian Cricket. He was former Indian cricketer. He was born in a Sikh Family. Her wife name is Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who is a doctor and a member of Punjab Legislative Assembly. They have two children: one son named Karan and a daughter named Rabia.

Navjot Singh Sidhu started his cricketing career in 1983 and continued until he retired on 1999. In a test match against West Indies at Ahemdabad in 1983, he made his debut, but he didn’t make much impression as he managed to score only 19 runs. He failed to impress despite of another chance which he got in the same series.

Then in 1987, he was named in the squad for Cricket World Cup 1987 (India and Pakistan). He made his One Day International debut against Australia on 9 October, 1987 where he scored 73 runs from 79 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes, but India lost by just 1 run. He made impression by scoring 4 fifties in 5 world cup matches that he played. He failed in Semi-final match against England.

He scored his first ODI century in Sharjah against Pakistan in 1989. His highest score 134 came against England at Gwalior in 1993 which he rates as best innings played by him.

In an interview, Sidhu told how an article titled ‘Sidhu: The Strokeless Wonder’ written by Rajan Bala (writer at Indian Express) criticising him after a poor performance in 1983, changed his career. He came back and managed to get himself into 1987 World Cup where he scored 4 fifties in 5 matches he played. His performance in 1987 World Cup was applauded by same writer, Rajan Bala, who wrote another article on Sidhu’s great show at World Cup named ‘Sidhu: From Strokeless Wonder To A Palm-Grove Hitter’.

He continued with his good performance in ODI cricket and became the first Indian batsman to score 5 or more centuries in ODI cricket. He managed to score 500 or more runs in a year three times i.e. in 1993, 1994 and in 1997. In 1994, he showed good performances in ODI cricket as well and scored 884 ODI runs (highest by him in a year in ODIs).

His 201 against West Indies in 1996-97 in tests was his highest score in tests and one of the great innings played by him. He batted 11 hours and his innings of 201 was filled with 19 fours and a six. He made his name in the India cricket as an attacking batsman who had a very good tendency to attack spinners. His knock of 124 against Sri Lanka in 1993-94 was filled with 8 cracking sixes. In the 1997-98 series against Australia, he scored four fifties in five matches.

After a sparkling career, he announced his retirement from the International cricket and retired from all forms of cricket. He played 51 tests scoring 3202 runs and 9 hundreds at an average of 42.13 with 201 as his best score and 136 ODIs scoring 4413 runs and 6 hundreds at an average of 37.08 with 134 not out as his best score. His first class career is filled with 157 matches scoring 9571 runs and 27 centuries at an average of 44.31 with 286 as his highest score.

After serving Indian cricket for 18 years, he joined the commentators’ team in 2001 during India’s tour of Sri Lanka and started his career as commentator. Soon, he became famous for his ‘Sidhuisms’ (his one-liners). He started with Nimbus Sport and then moved to ESPN Start Sports and Ten Sports. Along with making appearances as a cricket commentator, he has continuously made appearances on TV shows as a ‘cricket analyst’.

He also made an appearance in a Laughter Show titled as ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ as a judge along with Shekhar Suman. ‘Funjabi Chak De’ and ‘Kareena Kareena’ are some other TV shows in which Sidhu made an appearance. Season 6 of Big Boss which aired in 2012 also featured Navjot Singh Sidhu, but due to some political reasons he was forced to make an exit from the Big Boss house.

He also tried his hand in politics and got Bharatiya Janata Party ticket in Amritsar in 2004. But due to his conviction for homicide, he resigned from his position. But he stood again and won by-elections and in 2009 he went on to win the Amritsar seat.

He was accused of death of Gurnam Singh in 1988. He also got arrested and was made to spend several days in a Jail in Patiala. Jaswinder Singh (eye-witness) accused Sidhu of Gurnam Singh’s death and testified in Supreme Court of India. After all the proceedings, finally in 2006 Sidhu was sentenced to 3-year imprisonment after being found guilty. That’s why he resigned as a Member of Parliament. He made an appeal to SC in 2007 and after getting stay on his conviction order; he stood again in Elections and won the Amritsar seat.

Navjot Singh Sidhu has also made a guest appearance in a Bollywood movie ‘Mujhse Shaddi Karogi’. He also acted in Punjabi movie named ‘Mera Pind’.