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Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. 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.

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".[4] 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 (2013–2015) and later The Kapil Sharma Show (2016–2019). He was a contestant in the reality television show Bigg Boss (2012) and was seen in the show Kyaa Hoga Nimmo Kaa.

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 quitting 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.

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 (Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code) and sentenced him to 1 year rigorous imprisonment.[6] Since then, he is serving his sentence at Patiala Jail.

Early life and biography

Sidhu was born in Patiala, Punjab, India.[7] His father, Sardar Bhagwant Singh was a decent cricket player and wanted to see his son Navjot as a top-class cricketer. Sidhu is an alumnus of Yadavindra Public School, Patiala. He studied in Mumbai at HR College of Commerce and Economics.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[14][15][16] 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.[22] He was called up to the Indian Test team in November 1983 after he scored a century (122) 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.[23] 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 (ODI) 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 run.[26] After the game, Australia's captain Allan Border had remarked: "When the bloke hits the ball, it stays hit."[23] 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.[27] Sidhu scored two more successive fifties, against Australia and Zimbabwe (51 and 55 respectively), and in the process, became the first player to record four successive half-centuries on debut in ODIs.[23] 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 (76 off 87 balls), receiving man of the match awards for both performances.[28] He finished the tournament scoring three fifties in four innings aggregating to 179 runs and was named man of the tournament.

In popular culture

A Bollywood film Azhar released in 2016, directed by Tony D'Souza, was based on his teammate Mohammad Azharuddin's life and revolves around Match fixing scandals in late 90s and 2000. Sidhu's character was portrayed by Manjot Singh in the film.

Courtesy – Wikipedia
- Navjot Singh Sidhu

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