Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Siddhu is former Indian cricket batsman, who took up television commentary and, more recently, politics following his retirement from the game. He was was born in the family of Sardar Bhagwant Singh Sidhu of Patiala. Sardar Bhagwant Singh was a decent cricket player and wanted to see his son Navjot as a top-class cricketer. Sardar Bhagwant singh's blessings groomed his son into one of the best cricketers of India. Navjot Singh Sidhu had to face many oddities but each time he came out on top. He was called "Strokeless wonder" due to his sheer grit and determination to succeed against all odds.
Cricketing career
Navjot Singh Sidhu had a volatile career of a cricketer from 1983 to 1999.
He made an uneventful international debut against the West Indies at Ahmedabad in 1983 scoring just 19 runs in his debut Test match. He was given another chance in that series but failed again. He was selected for the 1987 cricket World Cup in India scoring 73 on his One-day International debut in a losing effort against Australia. He scored 50s in 4 of the 5 World Cup 1987 matches in which he batted, failing in the semifinal against England. His maiden 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.
He scored over 500 Test runs in a year thrice (1993, 1994 and 1997). His only Test double century came during India's 1997 tour of West Indies. In 1994, he scored 885 ODI runs.
Sidhu's finest moment in Tests was his 201 against West Indies in 1996-97, a defiant knock lasting 11 hours. 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. [2]
He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in December 1999. He played over 50 Test matches and over 100 ODIs scoring over 7,000 international runs. He has 27 centuries to his credit in a 18 year career.
Some of the nicknames he earned were "Sixer Sidhu", Sherry and "Jonty Singh" (with respect to his improved fielding in his late career, Jonty Rhodes being the best fielder at that time.) Toward the end of his career, when his form went belly-up he became known as "Puttu", a name that has carried on to his commentary career.
Commentator and TV Personality
Sidhu started his career as a commentator for NIMBUS when India toured Sri Lanka in 2001. He however later became a commentator with ESPN-Star. He had a brash & outspoken style with his all-too-(in)famous "Sidhuisms". Subsequent to his sacking, he took his act to commentate for Ten Sports. He also regularly appears as a "cricket analyst" on various local Indian channels. Of late he also figured as a judge on a television program - "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge".
Cyrus Sahukar hosts a program on MTV "Piddhu the Great" where he is disguised as Piddhu, a lookalike of Sidhu. The one-liners in the program, similar to Sidhuisms, are called "Pidhuisms".
Politics
Sidhu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2004 and contested the general election from Amritsar. 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 quitting the party. In 2017, he joined the Indian National Congress and was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Amritsar East constituency.
Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 Navjot Siddhu also fought elections for MLA in polls conducted in February 2022. On 8 March 2022, the results were announced when he was defeated. This time, the Aam Aadmi Party got a thumping majority and Bhagwant Mann from AAP took over as CM of Punjab on 16 March 2022.
External Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navjot_Singh_Sidhu
References
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